The God of Fate
by DarkPaladin000
Summary: Fate is supreme. Fate is cruel. And there is nothing that even the gods can do against it. For billions of years, the Fates have controlled the world and manipulated it on their whims. Yet, are they truly as unchallengeable as they claim to be?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Percy Jackson.

Have you wondered why the stories always ended so? Why it is that almost every single Greek or Roman story was a tragedy, a macabre story in which nothing seemed to be gained save for sorrow? All they seem to show is the futility of humans and gods to defy their fate.

It wasn't always like this. No, what very few people know is that, at the beginning of Time itself, before Gaia emerged from the Chaos, an entity even more powerful than her emerged. We do not know His name. All we know is that, before the Fates governed the lives of mankind and the gods, this god controlled both Time and Fate itself. He created a huge loom, one that would bind everything else that would be born from the Chaos, and with that became master of Fate.

He could see the threads of every creature, mortal or divine, being woven. Each thread represented that creature's life. He found that he could tamper with them, but decided against it. He believed that every creature had a right to choose its own Fate. There were no prophecies then, back then; all were truly free to create their own futures.

There was, however, a problem. He noticed that the threads of those whose lives had ended in sorrow ended up spoiled. The more gloomy the life, the more the thread would begin to unwind, and even spread to poison other threads. He was distressed at this, for it meant that the sorrow of one creature would inevitably lead to the sorrow of others.

So, that is when the Fates were born. He forged them out of the last remaining shreds of Chaos that remained in the universe. Their job was to eat the sorrow that dripped down from the tragedy threads, as they called them, which was their food and sustenance. In the beginning, that was all that they did.

However, they began to question their Master. They began to disagree with Him. So they made a deal with Gaia. They would help her overthrow Ouranos, and in return she would help them seize control of Fate itself.

I believe what happened is common knowledge. Kronos killed his father for power, urged on by his mother. What remains hidden is that, when Ouranos was slaughtered, his thread of fate withered like none before it. The death of a god, and in such a manner, released more grief and suffering than even the Fates had imagined. The Fates swallowed the immense amount of suffering and pain, and using that they gained power, and with it they caught their Master by surprise and disposed of him and became rulers of Fate. They assumed complete control over what happened to the gods and mortals alike.

They made sure that no one would ever oppose them by bending Fate completely. If only He had done that to them, they would never have been able to rise against him.

So, now they sit upon their thrones, wishing misery after misery on the rest of the world. For that is their meal. They do not feel sorry for those whom they hurt; they merely see the rest of creation as a giant buffet. They feast, and become ever more powerful. They began sowing despair from the moment that they had overthrown their Master, after all, immediately after then; Kronos received the prophecy that one of his children would overthrow him. They twisted Cronos until he couldn't even recognize himself and forced him to resort to swallowing his children, and then plunged the entire world into a war.

Yes, that had been a delicious period. They had gained most of their powers during that time. Afterwards, they had thought they had had enough, but then mankind showed up. And what creatures they were! The Fates harvested more from them than that they could ever have hoped to otherwise.

The rules binding immortals, preventing them from directly influencing anything, were all made by them to weaken the gods. The prophecies are merely another one of their tools. They allow them to be created so that those who hear them will dread them, and the more the suffering, the more power they would gain. Endlessly, they seek to plunge the world deeper and deeper into despair. Certainly, the gods have some powers, but they can do practically nothing against the Fates. Sure, sometimes the Fates are lazy and let someone have their happy ending, but that is only rarely.

However, there is still yet a shred of hope. The First Prophecy was made by their Master as he lay dying. He foretold that one day, he would be reborn. And then, he would overthrow the Fates and establish himself once again as the true God of Fate. He said he would destroy the loom he had created, and so, finally, truly, make everyone free to make their choices.

We can only hope that someday that day will come. The Fates are vigilant, they constantly view the threads to see if there is one that they cannot control and bend to their will. For when a thread like that will come into existence, they know it will be the thread of their reincarnated Master. And they will go to any end to make sure that that will never happen. They hid the story of their Master, not even Zeus or Kronos knows, in order to delay his rebirth.

Yet, sometimes they believe that The First Prophecy was a joke. After all, it has been billions of years, and no one has ever escaped their clutches. As they bring an unhappy mortal life to end, and swallow the misery, savoring the taste, they seem almost lethargic.

But, perhaps, The First Prophecy is true. And if it is true, the true God of Fate will overthrow the treacherous sisters, and then declare all prophecies null and void. He will allow the world to usher into a golden age that has been unheard of for millions of years, and the gods and humans will all live happily ever after.

Maybe, someday.

Someday…


	2. Rise From the Ashes I

**So, yeah, this was supposed to be a one chapter fanfic, but I decided to continue it. **

Clothos and Atropos, two of the Fates, were fast asleep. Not that they _needed _sleep, or were really asleep in any way mortals would understand. They were merely holding off on their duties for a few minutes, and had detached themselves from the world. It was their way of being lazy.

Which was something that the Fates had become accustomed to. Billions of years of doing nothing and having none to oppose them had muddled with their minds. More so for Clothos and Atropos than Lachesis.

Lachesis, the measurer, was the only one of the Three who was awake. She was currently scanning the billions of threads spun out in multiple colors beneath her. Right now, the only thing that she was doing was scanning those threads, which showed the lives of billions of mortals and divine beings, with her Circuit. That was what she called the odd wooden contraption that she wielded in her left hand. It was supposed to react and vibrate when it would detect that single strand that would defy all three of the Fates.

It was a duty that she had done countless times, without any real success. She didn't even pay attention to it anymore. She merely flew across the threads on her gilded wings while her mind was occupied elsewhere. What happened about her sisters? They merely stayed asleep nowadays, only awakening to taste the Fruit, what they called the sorrow of mortals and gods.

Just as she was about to leave, something happened.

Did her mind just trick her, or did the Circuit just react? Lachesis stared at it in astonishment. It had stopped vibrating, if it had ever started.

Was she just imagining things? It was possible. She had made three false alarms before. Once was two billion years ago, another a billion years after that, and one just a million and a half years ago. All three times, her sisters had reacted viciously and cut thread after thread in blind rage. Scores of fruit had been lost during those times. They had blamed her for all three of those times, and had gotten very angry. Lachesis was frightened of Atropos the most.

She stared at her two sisters, still resting peacefully above the strands that Clothos had woven. Surely they must have felt something if the First Prophecy had began?

And what about her? She was a goddess of Fate itself, even the gods didn't dare oppose her or her sisters. Surely she would know if a mortal had come up that was defying her power?

She decided to lay the matter to rest. She didn't want to raise a false alarm, it would lead to too much trouble.

And yet, she couldn't just fall asleep. She was, in a way, the most active of her sisters. Her sisters merely created and cut those threads, it was she who adorned them and elongated them, as well as harvested the Fruit. Her paranoia just couldn't let this matter go.

She would have to go to the mortal realm. In disguise, of course. And she would keep a close eye on the Circuit. She looked at the strands, trying to puzzle out where the disturbance, if it had been there, originated them. It was not from the golden divine threads, but it was difficult determining the location. However, she could only assume it was from somewhere in America, where the gods currently resided.

Judging from most of the threads, it seemed it was more likely it came from the Eastern coast. This was all she needed as she set out to weed out this possible disturbance herself.

**So, how was it? I'm sticking the common Greek names for the Fates. For those who don't know, Clothos was the one who spun the threads when people were born, Lachesis was the measurer and determined where one's life would go, and Atropos cut the threads, deciding the length of life of a person.**


	3. Rise From the Ashes II

Zeus, Lord of the Heavens, was unnaturally alert that morning.

Not that anything bad had happened. On the contrary, this was one of those few days on which _nothing _bad had happened. The rest of the gods were off on their separate duties. There were no monsters attacking demigods for the time being, and both of his mortal children were safe and sound.

And yet, he felt his god's instinct vibrating like a hummingbird's wings inside his head. There was a storm coming. In many more ways than one. He could just tell it. Normally he didn't get upset. Sure, sometimes he got upset with _people_, but rarely did the situation at hand worry him. There was something, or someone, a power unknown to him that was gathering. That could be the only logical explanation.

"Zeus, we need to speak," a voice said, interrupting his thoughts. He turned to the voice, wondering who it was that did not address him as 'Lord Zeus'. He was almost ready to throw a thunderbolt when he saw who it was.

It was Lachesis, one of the Fates. Now, two things surprised Zeus. The first thing was that she wasn't with her sisters. That was odd, as whenever Zeus had seen the three, they were always together. It was weird to see only one of them.

The second thing was that she had actually talked to him. The Fates were known to be reclusive. Of course, Zeus knew about their powers and how they could change the world on a whim, but he had never given much thought to that.

No, for thousands of years the Fates had been nothing more than entities, which, though powerful, did not interfere much with whatever Zeus did. Or so he thought, and rarely did he ever wonder about their mysterious origins or powers.

"There is something that I need," Lachesis continued. Two sentences. More than what he had ever heard from her in his long existence. And shouldn't she say we instead of I? Zeus got the unsettling feeling that somehow, whatever Lachesis was doing, she was doing by herself. The thought that the Fates sometimes had conflicting interests was not a very welcome one for Zeus, though he had to admit that he didn't get along with his brothers all that well anyway. But weren't the Fates above things like that?

"What is it?" Zeus asked.

"I want command over the Winds for a few hours. There is someone that I need to find," she said.

"Who do you want to find?" Zeus asked.

"That is none of your concern," Lachesis said, with a facial expression that clearly said that she was getting impatient. "Merely tell the Winds they have to obey me for a few hours. That is all you need to do. Unless…"

She didn't need to complete the statement. There were an endless number of ways in which she could hurt Zeus. She could directly attack his throne, by making a prophecy like the one that was made when Kronos killed Ouranos. Or she could target his children instead, both mortal and immortal.

Zeus knew very well that there was no opposing the Fates.

"Fine then," he said. It didn't take long for him to convey the message to Aeolus, after all, he was a god. Once the deed was done, Lachesis, without looking at Zeus again, as if he was nothing more than an uninteresting toy, walked away.

She conveyed her own message to Aeolus. _There is a human I want you to look for. Get all the Winds looking immediately. And I want no word of it to leak out to anyone; the gods, humans or any other living or nonliving entity, or you will come to regret it._


	4. Rise From the Ashes III

**A/N: Sorry that the chapters have been so short for a few chapters, but that will be remedied from now on.**

The God of Fate was dead. He had been defeated. There was not a shred of doubt about that.

However, there was something that he had left behind. A sword. A sword that he had never used, but was always filled with power. If only he had thought to keep it on the day his Fates betrayed him, but then again, what's there in brooding over what could not have been?

The sword is not suited for battle. It is ornamental, but its true power lies in the fact that it can overturn Fate itself. It is a sword made entirely out of sapphire and malachite, forged from the very vestiges of Chaos itself, the same vestiges from which the Fates themselves were later born.

If the First Prophecy ever came true, the new God of Fate would need that sword. Using it, perhaps even the Fates could be threatened. Unfortunately for the sisters, the sword was useless in the hands of anyone save their master, and even their powers seemed to be able to do nothing against the blade.

Needless to say, the Fates had been unable to destroy this sword. Not to say that they hadn't tried. They had used every power in their hands to try and break the blade. They had once taken Zeus' master bolt and rained lightning bolt upon lightning bolt upon the blade, without it receiving more than a scratch. They had thrown it from the peaks of the heavens to the depths of Tartarus a thousand times over without avail. They had once tried to get Hercules and Achilles to break it, but even those two had failed. They had even tried to bribe Haephastus into breaking it in his forges, but that attempt ended up fruitless as well. They had tried to shatter it by getting Typhon to step on it, and asked the Telekhines and Cyclopses for any method to destroy that accursed sword.

All had failed. So they decided instead that they must hide it. If the First Prophecy ever came true, the sword must never fall into the wrong hands. So they hid it.

The gods know that choosing to bear the Mark of Achilles means surrendering oneself to the Fates. Little do they know more beyond that, because it means surrendering oneself to the Fates in many ways.

There are many who chose to bear the Mark of Achilles. It was they that the Fates chose to guard their most prized and feared treasure.

Many people consider Tartarus to be the lowest place in the world. It was in the absolute bottom of Tartarus, a place so dark and deep that even Kronos' screams would echo far off above. It was an unknown to even the eldest Olympians and Titans, and hidden well with sorcery even the gods could not hope to overcome easily.

In short, it was the perfect hiding place. Much to their dismay, the heroes who had died bearing the Mark of Achilles were gathered around this pit to stop any intruder who might come to steal the sword.

They were kept constantly awake by the screams of those being tortured above, amplified by the Fates' magic so that they would spend every single second constantly alert.

And, of course, as things are with the Fates, they eventually forgot all about the sword for quite a length of time. So much that when Luke had died, they hadn't even bothered to cast his spirit into the pit for him to guard for all of eternity, and instead decided to throw him in the Elysium like what some gods wanted. They had been sure the sword was safer than anything else in the universe, so they didn't think another guard would be necessary.

Now, however, Lachesis was concerned about the sword. As she descended downwards toward the pit where the sword was being safeguarded, she was silently cursing the Circuit. It was due to it that this entire mess had started. If it wasn't for it and her paranoia, she could have been sleeping peacefully with her sisters. But instead, here she was, in a place that would make Hades seem like paradise.

The guards were surprised when she approached them. They were stationed so that they could only see what was above them, for an assault from below was impossible. This was the very depth of all of Creation itself, and there was nothing below the floor of the pit. The only thing was the sword, which rested upon the base of the pit, a floor made up of black nothingness, the very edge of Reality itself.

As Lachesis descended into the pit, all eight of the guards turned their eyes to her. The captain of the guard was a son of Zeus, one who had died a very tragic death a long time ago. Lachesis even remembered how sweet the fruit had been when he had passed over to the next life. However, she did not remember his name. She never remembered names. After all, none of these creatures were more than crops to her, plants from which she could harvest the fruit that she and her sisters so vehemently desired. That was all they were to her, nothing more.

She stood level with the captain, and in his eyes she could sense his hatred. She knew very well that this man, as well as the seven others, would not hesitate in killing her and throwing her remains into this very pit had they the power.

But that was the point. They did not have the power. And that was why she took no notice of the captain's hatred, nor had she ever. After all, all of them had taken a bath in the River Styx, and had chosen willingly to bear the Mark of Achilles. That meant that they were in the hands of the Fates, and consequently, that the Fates could order them to do anything, even in their afterlives.

She contacted Aeolus for a second before talking. She asked if the Winds had found what she had been looking for. The answer was negative, and she herself had felt nothing strange from the threads and had not felt the Circuit react. That could only mean that she had indeed been wrong.

Yet, that small bit of paranoia in her would just not rest. It would just not lie down and sit quietly. It had to express itself.

"Have there been any new occurrences here?" she asked the captain.

"Nothing to report," the captain said. Of course there was nothing to report. There was probably no one who even knew what the sword really was or where it was, let alone someone who would want to take it.

Lachesis was about to turn around and leave, without so much as giving the guards a single glance, without even speaking a word about how they were being mistreated, when she felt it.

Someone had entered the pit. There it was, the sensation again, someone had left the pit.

She slowly turned her gaze downwards, though, deep down, she already knew what had happened.

She turned her gaze to look at the sapphire-and-malachite sword that would be resting upon a floor made up of ethereal smoke, guarded carefully by eight of the finest warriors in all of history.

Only now none of those statements were true. The sword was gone. Someone had stolen it. And it was all her fault.

You see, her caution had been her undoing. The guards were bound by magic to take their duty carefully, but by dropping into the pit, she had distracted them. The guards were then paying attention to her, not to any potential intruders that may drop in, and so they noticed nothing. And her wards that were placed across the place did not react like they should have, because she had removed them in order to enter.

Her sisters would not take kindly to this kind of news. She knew that, but also knew that there was no point fretting about it now. There was only one logical explanation: Someone besides the Fates had found out about the First Prophecy, and that someone had conspired to steal the sword.

There were a number of questions left unanswered, however. Did the thief know of the First Prophecy, and had he or she found the person who it pertained to? She immediately discounted that possibility. After all, she herself had found no such mortal.

However, the Circuit had reacted. Could it merely be a coincidence that this theft and the Circuit reacting occurred on the same day? Some would say that there was no such thing as a coincidence, and none knew better than her, after all, she was one of those who changed events based on whim just so they could be more satisfying. But was it really just chance? She weighed the possibilities in her head, and could not find a satisfactory answer.

But the more pressing question was whether or not she should inform her sisters. She immediately rejected the idea, and decided that she would save that as a last minute resort. Until it was possible, she would try to investigate on her own. Her sisters had a tendency to… _overreact _to certain things.

Especially Atropos. Her relationship with Clothos was _steady_, for lack of a better word. But Atropos, she was simply terrifying. Lachesis felt shivers run down her spine as she thought of her elder sister. She was the most merciless of all three of them, and had actually been the original one who had decided to mutiny against their master long ago.

Atropos would certainly punish her if she found out. Lachesis knew that she had to act quickly, but what should she do? The thief could be anywhere by this point, especially if he or she was receiving divine assistance. After all, the thief had snuck past her and the eight guards using some sort of magic. It was not a stretch to imagine that, if the crime had been planned, an escape route had been planned as well.

And there was also the fact that the thief clearly had known that Lachesis had been about to enter the pit. How could he have known that?

She decided that she would resolve her problems one by one, and turned her attention to the more important matter at hand. She immediately contacted Aeolus and told him that she had a new assignment for him.


	5. Rise From the Ashes IV

**A/N: The reason for all this delay in posting these new chapters is because I had a bit of a hard time coming up with the main character for this fanfic. I had drawn a complete blank for the last few chapters, so I decided not to mention it for quite a while, but I've finalized it at last. Any comments on that would be appreciated.**

Crius Sympan was just out for a walk. There was no reason why it should turn out to be something extraordinary; after all, the world still looked as it always had when he entered the forest that wasn't too far from his house.

Since his birth, the Sympan family had lived at that place for twelve years. Twelve years in which Crius had been repeatedly told not to wander off into the woods. There wasn't anything remarkably dangerous about the woods, but there was always the chance of getting lost among the pines, and the ground was treacherous at places.

It was a warning that Crius had refused to heed since he had been three years old. The woods, somehow, held a very deep and special fascination for him. He would often wander for hours aimlessly among the trees, and he had been reprimanded a lot for not coming home on time.

"There is no one in those woods," his father had told him countless of times. "If you tripped and broke your leg, or something else happened, no one would come to help you. And you wander along them for hours; no one would bother searching for you for a few hours if something happened." His mother would often echo the same words.

But for some reason, Crius just simply couldn't believe that. For some reason, he had always thought of the forest as a friend, an ally who could be trusted, something that wouldn't harm him.

And so, he began his 'normal' walk into the woods. The woods always sported a mysterious sort of aura, something even other people felt. However, unlike them, Crius didn't fear the woods. Rather, he went there so many times because of it.

And so, among the trees, he lost himself for a time span that he himself didn't know. The forest held many places where the terrain was unstable, and while walking on one of them, Crius felt the earth give way beneath his feet.

Before he knew it, he was lying face-up, looking at a patch of the sky that was visible through the trees. The only thing that registered itself besides this was an excruciating pain all over his body.

I've broken my neck, a part of his rational mind said. And probably some other parts, it added. Crius realized that he must be in a pit of sorts and that he must have fallen at least ten feet, maybe more.

He had read somewhere that people usually didn't die from breaking their necks instantly. But if he wasn't found soon enough… well, it was only about midday, and his parents wouldn't come looking for him until after dark. He had ignored their warnings, and was feeling quite stupid for having ignored it.

I guess this is the end, he thought.

_No Crius, you can't die yet. _

Crius tried to raise his head before a large amount of pain met him. Had he imagined that voice? Was he hallucinating?

Before his trail of thought could go any further, he felt a strange, electric sensation spread across his whole body. It was weird, and for a few seconds there was this unbearable itch all over his body, and then… nothing. He got up. How had he been healed?

Lachesis had been about to give further instructions to Aeolus when it happened. She didn't even need the Circuit this time. She could feel a thread vibrating like crazy, and then suddenly stop. That thread… whoever it was should have died. But they didn't. It was much more than divine interference; someone had just defied Atropos, She Who Cannot Be Turned, herself.

All suspicions of the First Prophecy were true then. Oh well, no need to panic. This was time for action.

She drifted off to Zeus again. She told him what was happening, or a bit more accurately, a twisted version of what was happening. She told him that there was a prophecy that said that a mortal child had stolen a certain sword that had been lost long ago, and would later turn out to threaten the gods. The only way to stop him was to take the sword back and then smite him.

She left as Zeus contemplated on what to do, rather pleased by her smartness. It was not in the nature of the Fates to lie, after all, there was no one that could do anything to oppose them if they told the truth, and anyway, there was no fun in lying. But it couldn't hurt this once, and she needed to kill the boy before he got any further on his quest or her sisters woke up and found out.

But she wasn't overly concerned. The Olympians would find the sword, because whoever had stolen it would most likely hand it over to the boy sooner or later. But it could take years for the boy to learn the secrets of the sword and its full power and long before then, the Olympians would take the sword from him. Then, she could destroy him easily, and return the sword to its proper place.

But she wouldn't drift off to sleep like her sisters yet. Her sisters might take days to wake up, she knew that fact, and her paranoia just wouldn't sit still, not after all that had happened already. So, she decided to keep her eyes and ears open and keep a careful watch on the Olympians' movements.

Crius had barely gotten out of the pit. As he was about to walk home, he heard something. Not only that, but he felt it too. Something was approaching him, and it was speeding up. Before anything besides that could register in his head, someone grabbed him from behind.

The next thing he knew, he was lying down on a cold floor, and there was a very angry, very tall man in front of him. Was he even human? He had to be at least thirty feet tall, and there was something about his eyes that reminded Crius about thunderstorms.

"Hand over the sword, child," the man thundered. As you may have guessed; the person in question in Zeus. He had very quickly assembled the other twelve gods and explained the situation to them. Within seconds he had summoned the boy to Olympus.

"What?" the boy stammered. Zeus wasn't a very patient god, and then immediately let loose a small bolt of lightning at the boy. The boy flew twenty feet and landed dazed on the floor.

"Halt, brother," Hades said. Normally, he wouldn't even be allowed to these meetings, but since he was now considered one of the Olympian gods, Zeus had to invite him.

"What is it Hades?" Zeus thundered. As he spoke, lightning bolts forked across the sky. Show off, Hades thought.

"You see, from whatever I have understood, it would be foolish to kill this child. For if we do, then we will never know where this sword is that we're supposed to be finding. We are also bound by several rules of the Fates, and so cannot force the truth from him in another way," Hades said.

"Then we merely get others to torture him!" Zeus said again, once again with the lightning forking across the sky as he spoke. He needs to stop doing that, Hades thought.

"That would also be a bad idea. We don't want anyone else to know of the sword's existence, after all. And trust me, I'm the god of torture and punishment myself, and I can tell that this boy isn't going to crack easily. Instead, a better idea would be to put the boy in a place where he would be safe, but at the same time in a state of discomfort and somewhere where we could monitor him. I say that we throw him into Tartarus. No one will bother searching for the boy there, and eventually he will realize that he has no choice but to submit to us," Hades said.

The other gods looked thoughtful. Zeus merely looked suspicious. It wasn't that there was a fault to the plan; it was that Hades had been the one who had suggested it. It was enough to warrant suspicion in his eyes. However, he couldn't find a logical flaw in the plan for the time being.

"Perhaps there is some merit to what Hades says," Poseidon said. "His plan makes sense to me." However, Poseidon's agreement only furthered Zeus' suspicion. However, one by one, the other gods assented to Hades' decision, and Zeus began reconsidering.

"Fine then," Zeus said. "But I will be the one to cast the boy into Tartarus myself." That was the only way that he thought that he could defeat any trickery that Hades may have planned.

"I consent," Hades said. Crius was beginning to regain cognizance, and the last thing he saw before Zeus whisked him away was Hades' face: cruel and unforgiving.

And then, seconds later, he was falling. Not like falling through the air, Zeus must have done something to slow down his descent. It was more like falling through soup rather than air. The events of the last few minutes kept spinning around his head. What sword had those… people been asking for? He had assumed that they weren't human, but then what were they? He had heard the name Zeus once, did they mean that Zeus? The one in Greek legends and all? And if so, what did they want from him?

"I'm going to get to the bottom of all of this," he muttered to himself.

"That's the spirit," someone said just next to him. Crius spun around to see Hades, wreathed in what looked like… souls? Was that really possible? Or was this all just a dream?

"Believe me, you're not dreaming," Hades said. "You mortals always seem to think of that as the first excuse. Now, let me guess, you're wondering where you are, what this is, etc? Well, allow me to tell you this much, all the Greek myths that you've ever heard are all true. And now, you've been accused of stealing a sword of great power, and all twelve Olympian gods are after your life."

"But I didn't steal anything!" Crius said.

"I know that," Hades said. "I know that because I'm the one who stole the sword. I'm also the one who saved your life, by the way, so you should be thanking me. That was me when you were stuck at the bottom of that pit, and it was I who shielded you from Zeus' wrath just now. I was going to give you the sword, but for now, I believe that I will keep it until such a time as you are worthy to wield it."

"What do you mean you shielded me? I got thrown into Tartarus!" Crius said. Even he had heard some things about Tartarus. Wasn't it where people were punished after they had committed great crimes?

"So what?" Hades asked. "Just a few minutes ago, Zeus was about to smite you, and yet you still breathe. Do you know how few people can boast of having done that? Not only that, but you are still alive. Perhaps you're in Tartarus at the moment, but yet, you are still alive. Let me give you a hint though: Seek out the Titans. They will aid you. Don't tell them my name though, or they'll just eat you."

"Why should I trust you?" Crius asked.

"There is no reason," Hades said. "But perhaps you would instead like to trust Zeus, after he just tried to kill you? If you must know, I have my own reasons for helping you, but they don't' involve you getting harm in any way. Choose who you will trust on your own, Crius. I will merely tell you this: Trust the Titans, trust even my father, Kronos, if you have to, but do not trust the Olympians."

And with that, Hades disappeared into the shadows, leaving Crius to drift alone.


	6. Rise From the Ashes V

The ride down to Tartarus was a very slow one. Crius had no way of telling the time, but after brooding over the situation for a while, he finally fell asleep.

He woke up when he suddenly got the sensation that he was speeding up. Before he could do anything more than look down, he crashed into what he guessed was the floor of Tartarus.

As he got up, before he could even take a look at his surroundings, someone came out of the shadows to approach him.

Crius was so startled that he instantly backed away before he could get a good look at whatever it was that had crawled out of the shadows. He was sure that it was a Fury or some other monster that he had read about somewhere, but whatever had approached him seemed… human.

As Crius approached the figure, he noticed that he was carrying a small oil lantern. The guy was wearing this huge cloak that hid most of his body, and there was some odd portion protruding somewhere behind him, was he keeping wings furled using that cloak? Aside from that, all Crius could notice properly was his face, which was old and worn out. One of his eyes was green and the other brown, and he had an enormous wart on his nose that Crius just couldn't take his eyes off of even though it was absolutely revolting.

The figure was stopped, and he seemed to be constantly wiping his nose. Crius really hoped the guy wouldn't offer to shake hands.

"What're you up to?" the guy asked.

"Umm, who are you?" Crius asked.

"Me? I'm Nord, first demigod son of Dionysus ever. Accepted immortality, but I did a coupla' mistakes and winded up guarding this dungeon. I saw you though, and you was all floating down like… say, that means that you're one of Zeus' servants and whatnot, right? Whatcha' doing here?" the guy asked, and he had a weird way of talking. Each word seemed to hurt Crius' ears like fingernails on a chalkboard. He could see that this guy wouldn't have many friends.

Luckily though, he was able to improvise and after a few minutes decided to go with the flow of things.

"Yes, I'm a… an envoy of Zeus. I have to check up on Prometheus' prison, so please lead me there," Crius said. Along his long descent, he had figured out that if he was going to ask any of the Titans for help, it may as well be Prometheus. From what he knew, he had been the only one of the Titans who wasn't a bloodthirsty monster, and had helped create mankind. Not to mention he was considered wisest of the Titans.

Nord seemed to be overeager to take him to wherever it was that they were going. Strangely enough, Crius didn't encounter anyone else on his way. He was sure that there were supposed to be evil spirits or prisoners or something, but all around, wherever he looked, he saw only darkness. There were no sounds either, but before he could voice a complaint, he realized that they were approaching another source of light. Like an exit.

"So, here's beyond be the prison yer lookin' for," Nord said. "I'll be going now, but just do be sure to tell Zeus a bit about my helping, you hear?"

Crius then realized that Nord had been helping him in hope of a promotion or something. He just nodded without saying anything, and once Nord had vanished into the surrounding shadows, he walked towards whatever the source of light was.

The moment he walked towards it, he saw that he was suddenly standing outside. He was somehow now on a cliff, with sunlight pouring down all around him and with a blue sky, not the dark roof of Tartarus.

Crius walked out, and walked in again. He wasn't dreaming.

There didn't seem to be anything beyond the cliff. It just ended abruptly, and whatever was at the bottom was obscured from Crius' view. He wondered if there even was a bottom.

There was no vegetation on the cliff. The only thing besides bare rock was a central structure that was, what Crius guessed, the prison. And the prisoner was dressed up in a normal suit, like one you'd expect a banker to wear, oddly enough. Prometheus, if it was Prometheus, was asleep, both his arms and legs chained to the surrounding rock. He had strange markings near his eyes, they looked like scratches and then Crius remembered that Prometheus was supposed to be punished. He shuddered, wondering what it must feel like to be tortured every single day.

Crius crept closer to the prison; he wasn't really sure what he should do. Should he wake up Prometheus? And if so, how? From whatever he had heard, the Greek gods were pretty unforgiving of even the tiniest of mistakes.

He snuck closer to examine the chains. Maybe if he broke them somehow then the god might start listening to him.

But before he could do so, as soon as he approached the chain, the prisoner woke up suddenly, and apparently those chains weren't screwed to the rocks as tightly as they were supposed to.

With surprising strength, Crius was lifted into the air. He couldn't breathe, and the prisoner glared at him with undisguised hatred.

"So, come to mock me, have you? I certainly won't be-" but whatever it was that the guy wasn't going to do, Crius would never know. Prometheus suddenly released Crius.

"You're a human," Prometheus said. "Not even a demigod."

Crius didn't bother trying to interpret whatever Prometheus had said. He took the sensible course and walked away from the prison as fast as he could. This whole thing was a mistake, he should never have-

"Wait!" Prometheus suddenly called out behind him. "You have no need to fear me! I am a friend and have always been to your race! I merely assumed that you were one of the Olympian's minions and had come to insult me."

Crius still felt the burning sensation around his throat. There was no way he was going to trust this guy. But then a nagging part of his mind asked him what he was going to do if he didn't get any information.

"Fine. But I'm certainly not going any closer," Crius said. Though this was something else he had heard in Greek stories, that monsters and gods had a way of tricking you into doing what you didn't want to, he stood his ground, because he was sure that there wasn't any other way out of this mess.

After a pause, Crius asked, "What is this place?" He probably should have asked something more relevant, but that was all that his brain could get out in that kind of situation.

"This is my new prison," Prometheus said sourly.

"New prison?" Crius asked.

"Yes. You see, I managed to escape once, but of course, I chose the wrong side of action, and Zeus ultimately punished me again by putting me here. If you're wondering, this place is still in Tartarus, and there's no way out into your world from here. This place is little more than an illusion, a dream, you might say," Prometheus said with a tone that implied that he didn't want to continue this line of discussion.

Still, Crius pressed on. "What happens if you fall off the cliff?"

"You end up back on the floor of Tartarus," Prometheus said. "Now, isn't there something a bit more important that you would like to ask me? Why are you, a mortal, here in the first place?"

Crius told Prometheus almost everything, which wasn't much. Prometheus just looked up at the sky thoughtfully for a while before replying.

"It is odd. I am supposed to be the wisest of the Titans, and my visions often tell me much that I cannot learn otherwise. But it is strange with you," Prometheus said.

Crius didn't get anything the guy was saying at all, but he could make out that he had absolutely no clue on how to help him. So his entire plan was a waste.

Prometheus seemed to read Crius' expression. "While it is true that I cannot fathom why the Olympians would suddenly wish a mortal dead, or what this sword is that they seek, there is one thing I can tell you. Often, when I receive visions, I see the future as pristinely and clearly as reality, if only for a few seconds. But for some reason, my visions of you are blurred. They are clouded, as if I am looking at them through clouded glass."

"What does that mean?" Crius said with a hint of anger in his voice. Was this guy really going to tell him something useful?

"I cannot say for sure. I can only say this: Whenever my visions have been crystal clear, it meant that they were always sure to happen. Even Zeus tried to defy them, but he was unsuccessful. Perhaps, if they are unclear, it would mean that the future around you is uncertain? Merely a guess, but quite plausible," Prometheus said. "Though it makes no sense, for visions always come true. The Fates made it so. However, on to what you should do, I would say that you should seek out Erebos and Tartarus."

"Aren't we already in Tartarus?" Crius asked.

"No, boy, Tartarus is a place as well as a deity, much like Hades. He spends most of his time in deep slumber nowadays, but you might be able to wake him up. Erebos is also a primordial deity, that of darkness itself. Your quest involves something that occurred very long ago, and I believe only the oldest beings will remember it."

"And how do I find these guys?" Crius asked.

"An offering," Prometheus said. "No one offers anything to them anymore, and so they have almost faded entirely. But…" Using whatever small mobility he had with this left hand, he reached into his coat pocket and flung something in Crius' general direction.

Crius went over to pick it up, keeping a wary eye on Prometheus. It was a small coin, and it was colored a deep shade of emerald and glittered in the sunlight. There were no special markings on it at all; it was equally flat and plain on both sides.

"That, if you're wondering, is a coin that was used long ago. You won't see much in circulation nowadays, but that coin is pretty valuable to the gods. Some heroes would go on quest just to find them to offer it to their immortal parents," Prometheus said. "If that doesn't wake them up, I don't know what will. Just be sure to offer it at the right time and place. Don't ask me when that is, my vision was too obscured to tell, but I guess you'll know."

Crius wasn't sure what he should say. Thank you was a bit too much, as all that he had gotten was a coin after this guy tried to strangle him. Instead, he just decided to leave.

"I will tell you one more thing," Prometheus said. "I am often called the God of Crafty Counsel, and people often assume that I lie to gain what I want. But what I'm about to tell you is no lie, I wish you the best of luck in your quest. Also, I saw a vision of us meeting again, though it was foggy. Normally I would say 'We will meet again,' to a hero, but perhaps the more appropriate thing in this situation is to say, 'If you wish it, we will meet again,' It is odd, but I seem to be getting the feeling that strangely enough, you will end up choosing your own Fate."

Crius felt a thousand thoughts rebound inside his head as Prometheus said that, but he decided to work on them later, and walked towards the exit, back into the darkness. Back into Tartarus.


	7. Zeus vs Hades I

Crius had tried offering the coin over a hundred times. He tried every version of 'Tartarus/Erebros, please accept my humble sacrifice,' that he could think of. It didn't work, and every time he tossed the coin in the air, it just cluttered back to the floor.

Eventually he gave up and realized that he had to think up of some other plan. The strange thing was that there was no one else there. If this was Tartarus, there should have been a bunch of monsters or other things wandering around. He hadn't seen anyone or anything at all.

Eventually, he decided to look for Nord. That guy didn't seem too busy, and if he still thought that Crius was some agent of Zeus, he might be able to gain some information.

The problem was that he had no idea where to start looking. The only thing around him was darkness. It was strange, he could see a few feet around him even though there was no source of light, but beyond that everything was pitch black. And the area that was illuminated moved when he moved.

He decided to dwell on this later and started wandering around the place, looking for anyone who could be of assistance. He didn't see _anything. _That was really creeping him out.

After wandering around for what seemed like hours, he finally stumbled on what seemed like a makeshift camp. There was a small oil lantern, just like the one that Nord had been carrying. There was a tent, and bowl over what seemed to be a campfire, though it wasn't lit.

Before he could get a closer look, someone jumped out of the shadows.

"Die intruder!" the thing said, which Crius realized was Nord, and Nord seemed to realize that Crius was Crius and put down his rather heavy-looking sword. It was made out of a weird metal that Crius had never seen before, but he decided that there were a few more important things to do.

"Umm, Nord? You see, I seem to have lost my way and can't find an exit out of Tartarus. Do you know a way?" Crius asked. He hadn't asked before because he was sure that there was no way, otherwise Nord would have left himself, but what was the harm in asking?

"Hmm, I do know a way, but it opens up to Hades' palace, so you probably don't want to go there. Can't go meself because I'm bound to Tartarus by ancient magic and all, but you might make it," Nord said. "However, Hades is one nasty god. You probably don't want to go meetin' him."

"No," Crius said. Hadn't Hades helped him, and hadn't he also said that he was on his side? Crius wasn't sure if he was lying or not, but Hades seemed to be the only one who could help him out in this situation. "Hades isn't that bad, and I think he might help me out."

"Suit yerself," Nord said in his annoying voice. Crius may have only imagined it, but he noticed a flicker of suspicion in Nord's eyes when he had said that Hades might help him. But it vanished quickly, and Nord grabbed his lantern and started off in what appeared to be a random direction. Crius tried to follow as quickly as possible, all the while keeping an eye out for any traps or monsters. There weren't any. That was really getting on Crius' nerves, as if Tartarus itself was trying to lure him into a false sense of security.

Nord suddenly stopped somewhere where there was another window of light kind of like the one near Prometheus' prison, except it was on the roof or what appeared to be the roof and the light wasn't like the kind you'd see outside, it was just a pale yellow.

"Good luck," Nord said. "And do slip a word or two to ol' Zeus and father himself 'bout my assistance, alright?" Crius agreed, and he grabbed the edge of the window or whatever it was, and hauled himself up.

It led to a corridor filled with torches casting a dirty yellow light everywhere. The only way to walk was up, and that was where Crius started heading. After a while, he came to a dead end. There was a door, but it was locked.

Crius tried looking for a way to break the lock, but he didn't need to. The moment he touched the lock, it dissolved and the door swung open by itself. Apprehensively, he stepped in to whatever was waiting beyond.

There was a huge room beyond the door, and whoever designed it must have been a hard core Goth, because everything was decorated black or with skulls that glowed in various colors. There was a carpet that was blood-red, and thinking about it made Crius wonder if the whole carpet was actually stained in blood.

However, there was an even more frightening thing in the room: Hades himself. He sat on a throne made up entirely of skulls, and he looked much more fearsome than the last time Crius had seen him. Crius could actually see the souls weaved into his clothes screaming and moaning, and could feel Hades' aura and realized for the first time what a god's power really was.

Luckily, Hades didn't look very angry. Or, at the very least, not I'm-going-to-smite-you angry. Crius wondered if the god every smiled.

"So, you've actually managed to come here," Hades said. "Perhaps my effort in saving you was worth it."

Of course, that made absolutely no sense to Crius.

"Would someone please tell me what's going on?" Crius asked. All of this was so very confusing. Hades' eyes twitched, as if he had been insulted and wanted to crush Crius for a second, but the emotion soon passed.

"Very well. Allow me to start at the beginning. You see, for countless years I held a grudge against my siblings on Olympus, but I soon found out there was one thing I had that the others didn't," Hades began. "The others, because they are so used to being in power, miss out in details that I don't. And one of those details is-"

He never got any further, because suddenly a rainbow exploded into the room. It looked rather odd with the rest of the decorations, but the rainbow cleared to reveal someone who was very, very angry.

Crius remembered him: he was Zeus. His voice thundered around the room.

"Brother! I knew there was something wrong with your so-called 'plan'. And so, I now have proof that you are indeed aiding this child."

"No," Hades said. "I just found out that he had escaped and was returning him back to Tartarus…"

"You lie!" Zeus said. "I never sent the child to Tartarus in the first place! He was sent to another dark realm that I had created myself. He himself confessed that you would help him, and I know you know very well that there are no entrances to your palace from Tartarus." Zeus was livid, even angrier than he had been when he had tried to smite Crius.

Oddly enough, Hades didn't seem to be mad at all when he found out that his ruse had been quashed.

"So what brother?" Hades asked. "This is my neck of the woods; we have that agreement, remember? This is my territory, and I can shield anyone I want."

Zeus seemed to get so angry that Crius considered it a miracle that the room didn't explode. Still, Zeus seemed to have no replies to that for a moment, but then he said,

"You are now a god of Olympus. I am King of Olympus. Technically, that makes the entire god's territories mine. I can extract the boy from even your palace, Hades, on those grounds."

That seemed to irritate Hades. Hades thought for a second before replying.

"In that case… I renounce my throne on Olympus. I am now solely a God of the Underwold. You have no right then," Hades said. The iris-message exploded into a shower of rainbow sparkles at that. It seems Zeus had given up.

Crius realized one thing: Nord had been a fake. Zeus in disguise. That was how Zeus knew, because he had never trusted Hades in the first place.

"This is a bit problematic," Hades said, though he didn't know the half of it.


	8. Zeus vs Hades II

Before Hades could do anything else, the door burst open. Crius whipped around, and before he knew it, he was suddenly hovering several feet above the ground. And not in a fun, superman-like way, but a crazy, I-have-no-control kind of way.

"Storm spirits!" Hades shouted. "To think Zeus goes to such extent to oppose me!" It was clear that he was about to do something when he suddenly stopped.

"No… no!" Hades suddenly screamed. He stood up, but then suddenly collapsed. It was like he was having the most severe headache of all time.

Before anything more could be done, the storm spirits whisked Crius away. Crius used to think that flying would be fun, but this was the exact opposite. The storm spirits certainly did not fly smoothly, and they kept tossing Crius about along their way.

There was nothing Crius could do. For the first time, he was feeling the power of winds. The only thing that he could do was try to keep his last meal in him.

Suddenly though, the winds dropped him. Crius had no idea why, he just knew that he was suddenly tumbling towards the earth. He expected his fall to be painful, but oddly enough, he landed against something soft. Once he had overcome the shock, he looked up at the ceiling of Hades. The storm spirits seemed to be gone, and he saw that he was standing on what appeared to be a giant sunflower. That was weird. Don't sunflowers need the sun to grow?

"But goddess magic works equally well," a voice said. Crius peered down. The sunflower was only a few feet above the ground, the only part of it that was enormous was the top.

There was a woman there, but Crius had the feeling that she wasn't human. He jumped down, and took a good look at his surroundings. He seemed to be in some sort of garden, though he was still supposed to be in Hades.

"Good evening," the woman said. "I am Persephone, and I generally get thanks when I save someone."

"Persephone?" Crius asked. He remembered something. "But it's summer right? Why are you in Hades?"

Persephone frowned at him. Great, another immortal is mad at me, Crius thought.

"Well, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you," she said.

"Me?"

"Yes. But perhaps it would be best if you sat down before we talked," she said, and a table and two chairs appeared out of nowhere. Crius sat down, though his head was reeling with so many questions that he found he couldn't say one of them.

"My handmaidens aren't here," Persephone said. "They only come in winter, but what can one do about things like that? Anyway, those storm spirits won't be harming you anymore. A bit of toxic flower pollen can do that to them."

"So why did you rescue me?" Crius asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Because my husband was far too busy to do anything," Persephone said. "Zeus may not be able to enter the Underworld, but he sent a lightning bolt through one of the openings that lead to the world above. It damaged a great region of Hades, and so, being a god, my husband was struck with the most severe headache as his domain had been severely damaged. He went instantly to repair the damage, in other words, he had been incapacitated for a few minutes. However, he obviously wants to save you, so I decided to intervene."

"Why?" Crius asked. "I mean, didn't he imprison you here for so much time?"

"That's true, but he is still my master. And what he did for you," Persephone said, shaking her head. "After five thousand years, he had finally gotten his place among the Olympians. And it took an entire war for that to happen. He wanted a place on Olympus so badly, and he received it. And yet, he sacrificed it within a heartbeat in order to save you. Do you even know what that means? It means that none shall worship him above the ground, and that he had broken all ties with his family. His children will be treated as outcasts among other demigods, and the Olympians will forever regard him with hatred. Knowing that, he still did it."

Persephone looked at Crius with renewed interest. "So, tell me, who are you? I would guess that you would be one of his children with some other women, but you don't look like that." A dark look passed over her otherwise kind face. "But it doesn't matter if you are. If he was willing to give up a throne to help you, I suppose I will as well."

"Um, no, I'm just a mortal," Crius said. "I really don't have any idea why anyone is even bothering with me." Crius told Persephone all he knew. Persephone seemed to think he was telling the truth, but there were a lot of gaps in his story.

Just then, Hades appeared. Crius had no idea how; he probably had just emerged from the shadows. And Hades did not look good. He seemed to have aged thirty years, and his scary eyes now seemed weak.

"Give this to the boy," he said, and even those few words seemed to cost him a lot. He slipped back into the shadows again.

"What was that?" Crius asked.

"His domain appears to have been damaged a bit more than I thought," Persephone said. "And he expanded a lot of power in fighting off all of Zeus' minions, and probably also in quelling some of his rebellions here. It doesn't appear that he has the time to tell you what you need to know, but at the very least he left you this." Persephone held up a sword. Crius vaguely remembered something about a sword being mentioned by both Hades and Zeus.

The sword seemed to be made out of stone, and was a dark gray. The moment Crius touched it; it turned into a deep shade of emerald instead.

The sword kind of reminded him of a pine tree, especially since it was green. It wasn't a single straight blade, but had numerous branches at various points. It felt oddly nice in his hands.

This sword belongs to me, Crius thought.

"Well, what is it that you plan to do next?" Persephone asked. "I believe that you have received a sword which you have no idea what to do with, and the only person who seems to know anything about this whole murky affair is currently fighting off somewhere. I suppose I will aid you, but what is it that you want?"

Crius thought about it for a while. What was he supposed to do? There didn't seem to be any easy answers.

"I think… I think that I want to return to the surface," Crius said. He didn't know what made him want to go back, but his instincts were telling him that he should.

"There will be danger outside," Persephone said. "Zeus himself hunts you, and many of the Olympians will acquiesce to his wishes without much quarrel. Yet, are you prepared to go?"

"Yes," Crius said. He couldn't understand why exactly, but he just knew that it was the way to go. "I want to go back to the forest where I was before."

Suddenly, the world blurred around Crius, and just as quickly everything shifted back into focus. Crius was back in the exact same spot where Zeus had taken him from. There was no sign of Persephone anywhere, and he could have dismissed it all as a dream if it wasn't for the sword that he was carrying.

Now he knew exactly why he came back. The sword reminded him of the forest; it had the same, dark, mysterious hue as the trees. Somehow, he had the feeling that if he wanted to find out about well, _everything_, then this forest was the right place to start.

He suddenly remembered his parents and was struck with a deep desire to meet them, but then he remembered Zeus and the other Olympians. They probably wouldn't hesitate in striking his house with a lightning bolt.

What really annoyed him was that he wasn't sure what it was that he was supposed to be looking for in this forest. Sure, it was mysterious and all, but for the first time he felt impatient in the woods.

It was when his concentration faltered that it happened. Something grabbed his foot, and he was suddenly yanked into the air. In a moment of sheer stupidity, he had managed to drop his sword. He looked around and saw that it was the tree that had grabbed him.

Impossible, he thought. Then he remembered that he was in a world where gods existed, so moving trees didn't seem so implausible. He looked down to see a woman who hadn't been there before.

She's a god, Crius thought. He didn't know how he knew, he just knew.

"And they say trees are useless," the goddess said. "But Zeus will be rewarding me handsomely for your capture and for that sword as well."

Crius racked his brains for ideas. If he was being suspended by a tree, then the goddess was most likely-

"You're Demeter," he said. The goddess made no response but Crius was sure that he was right. "Look, your daughter, Persephone, she helped me, so uh, could you help me too?"

"Sure she helped you," Demeter said. "She was undoubtedly swayed wrongly by that fool Hades. But that will not save you from me." Her eyes were merciless, and Crius realized that if he didn't do something quick he was going to end up dead. Or worse.

"Let me go," he muttered unconsciously as he tried thinking of something. Surprisingly though, the tree did let him go. Five feet above the ground, that is. The fall was painful, but he instantly grabbed his sword.

Demeter looked surprised. "How did you…"

Crius then realized that _he _was the one who had made the tree drop him. He grabbed his sword tightly, and though he had no idea if what he was about to do was going to work, he tried it anyway. He looked at the deep shade of emerald that the sword was made up of, so similar to the shade of the trees that it was impossible for it to be a mere coincidence. Crius was never going to believe in coincidences again, not after what he had been through.

"Bind her," he half commanded, half begged the sword. Demeter seemed to have gotten over her shock, but she was still surprised when a tree root bound itself around her.

"No, there's no way that you can-" she began before even more roots began binding around her.

Crius had the feeling that the roots weren't going to be binding her for a long time. He ran in what seemed to be the safest direction as fast as he could, and tried not to look backwards.


	9. A Chat with Erebos I

**A/N**

**Dreamingisseeing101, no, the sword doesn't give power over everything. There's a reason it worked against Demeter, but I'll explain that later. Crius isn't going to just going to whip it out whenever things get bad, it's going to be next to useless for most of the story. It's important because Crius hasn't got full control over his powers yet, but even then it is little more than ornamental.**

Crius kept running. He didn't know how long Demeter would remain bound, but as she was the goddess of plants, he didn't think that it would be very long.

After a while, when he realized that no one was chasing after him, he paused.

As he looked around the forest, he noticed that it somehow looked different, which wasn't right. He had been everywhere here. But it wasn't that he was in some unknown part of the forest, but rather that he was somewhere he had been before. The forest just somehow looked different, if that was possible at all.

But then Crius guessed that if the Greek gods existed, then maybe it wasn't so impossible at all.

_Hey you,_ someone seemed to whisper to Crius. _Over here._

Crius looked wildly around for ten seconds before the voice repeated itself. It wasn't like actually hearing something with his ears; rather the voice seemed to be talking inside his head.

Is it the tree? Crius wondered.

_No, not the tree, the vine. Only I'm not supposed to be a vine, so do please be quick and turn me back to what I was._

Crius saw the thin green vine curling around the tree then, and wondered just what it meant by 'turning it back to what it was'. Crius held up his newly found sword, and the inside seemed to glow a dazzling shade of emerald, and the vine seemed to resonate with its glow, and slowly it sank to the ground and assumed the shape of a human.

The man was wearing very simple white robes, but there was a very large sword in his left hand, which was the first thing that caught Crius' attention.

"Thanks kind," the man said.

"Why were you a vine?" Crius asked.

"Punishment," the man said. "Persephone decided to punish me like this after I was thrown out of the Underworld, though she let off Theseus for some reason. But I'm not spiteful; I guess he was the better fighter."

Crius remembered something about Theseus. "Wasn't Theseus a hero? Why would Persephone try to punish him?"

"Um, well, it was my fault really," the man admitted. "We were planning on marrying, and if you want to have a wife, she should be someone powerful, right? Especially seeing as we were demigods, so I wanted to kidnap Persephone, but then Hades punished us. Hercules managed to convince her to release Theseus, but Persephone turned me into a vine because I was the one who had started it all."

"What's your name again?" Crius asked.

The man narrowed his eyes, as if he wasn't used to people asking for his name and for some reason expected Crius to know it instantly, but he still answered. "Pirithous, son of Zeus. I guess you must be knowing my partner, Theseus, a bit better than me. We used to get into a lot of trouble together." "I need help," Crius suddenly said, remembering that there were currently several very angry gods after him. "Sorry, but I need to go," Pirithous said. "But I might give you a bit of advice: Go find a river and talk to the naiads. Say that you helped Pirithous, Theseus' friend, and they'll probably help you." With that, the man vanished like the morning dew leaving Crius confused and slightly angry. No one's giving me any concrete advice, he thought angrily. But still, with nothing better to do, he decided to wander off to wherever this river and 'nayads' were. He did find one finally, which was very odd considering that he didn't remember there ever being a river in the forest before. The whole forest seemed to have suddenly changed on its own whim. Or maybe it had always been like that; just Crius was looking at it differently. Now, Crius knew absolutely nothing about naiads and so had no idea where he could find any. He decided to start by checking out the water's surface. The river wasn't too wide or too swift. But that wasn't the danger that Crius should have been wary of. The moment he came near the river's surface, hands suddenly shot out of the water and grabbed both of his ankles. "Come…" voices beneath the waters said, though Crius couldn't see them. "Lord Poseidon demands your presence." Crius tried slashing at the water with his sword, but that didn't seem to have any effect. Inch by inch, he found himself slowly entering the river. "No!" he shouted. "I'm a friend of Theseus! Let me go!" Whoever was pulling him seemed to hesitate for an instant, but before Crius could relax, they started pulling harder. "Lord Theseus is important yes," the voices seemed to say. "But Lord Poseidon cannot be denied!" And with that, Crius was finally pulled into the water. He then guessed that something had hit him on the head, because he then lost consciousness. When he woke up, Crius saw that there was a very angry, very powerful sea god staring at him in the face. Oh no, Crius thought. The god was as scary as Zeus or Hades, and Crius took that to be confirmation that he was Poseidon. "Lord Poseidon," he said, imitating what the naiads or water spirits had said. He didn't want to end up insulting this guy. Poseidon stood well over twenty feet tall, and for some reason was dressed up in a suit. But the most remarkable thing about him was the long trident that he was carrying. The water around the tips of the trident sizzled and shifted, as if it was constantly being heated. "Silence child!" the god bellowed. It was then Crius saw that he was sitting on a very small chair someplace underwater. He didn't bother asking how he was breathing in case that just made Poseidon even madder. Poseidon raised his arm, and two sharks swam out of the surrounding waters. They weren't very big, but they had huge razor sharp teeth that could not have been natural, and their eyes glowed red for some reason. "These are my grandchildren, Athis and Paul," Poseidon said. "Sons of one of the Argonauts, whom I made immortal. They are rather special, for the moment they hear you lie, they will devour you whole. Now, I want you tell me exactly what has been happening." Crius pretty much blurted out everything in a real hurry. He didn't bother mentioning that he thought Paul was a weird name for a shark, though. All the time Poseidon kept glaring at him like he really wanted to vaporize him but just wasn't sure on how to do it. Crius found that though he wasn't bound by anything visibly, he could hardly move. He didn't understand what was pressing itself against him until he realized that it was the water itself. He tried using his sword once. But it didn't do anything to Poseidon like it had done to Demeter for some reason. When he finished, Poseidon asked, "Is that it?" "Yes," Crius said lamely. "Child," Poseidon said angrily. "All of Olympus is in chaos because of you, and the only thing that you've managed to tell me is that apparently you know nothing." "But it's the truth! I don't know more about all of this any more than you," Crius said. Poseidon stroked his large beard thoughtfully. "It all happened so suddenly that most of us have no idea what to do. Hera supported Zeus in trying to kill you of course, but the other Olympians are divided whether or not we should aid Hades or Zeus. I myself, felt confused, so I brought you here to learn just what it is my two brothers are fighting about so fiercely. It isn't generally in their nature to quarrel, but rather it is generally Zeus and I who are known to fight." "I'm sorry, child," Poseidon said. "Though I don't want to, I suppose if Zeus requests us to destroy you, we must. You haven't given me a single reason why I shouldn't. Don't take it personally." Poseidon lifted his trident and pointed it at Crius. But before he could lunge or throw it, something seemed to trouble Poseidon, as if there was a fly buzzing in his ears. "I see," Poseidon said suddenly. He then turned his gaze to Crius. "My son Theseus has used one of the wishes I granted him saying that I should help you. I suppose I will consent then. I will help you with one request, afterwards I will make you wash up ashore near some river and pretend that you escaped my grasp." Crius couldn't believe his luck just then. But what was he supposed to ask about? "Help me contact Erebos or Tartarus," Crius said. "I feared you might say that," Poseidon said. "I can't help you with Tartarus, but I suppose that Paul might be able to take you to a place where you should find Erebos. Good luck." Poseidon vanished, and Athis swam away somewhere, leaving Crius alone with Paul. Crius grabbed Paul's fin. He thought that the particular fin was called the dorsal fin, but he couldn't be sure as ninety percent of his knowledge of marine animals came from watching _Spongebob Squarepants._ Paul immediately began swimming below, and he was very fast. Crius guessed there was some magic protecting him from the water pressure as well, because he was sure that he should have been crushed long ago. As they began descending, the light lessened. It kept getting darker and darker, until finally they reached a point where there wasn't any light anywhere. Crius almost panicked. Almost. But he waited patiently as they descended even deeper and the darkness somehow grew even denser. Finally, they stopped at a place where the darkness seemed absolute, as if it was smug and confident that not a ray of light would ever pierce it. Crius reached for the coin that Prometheus had given him and was thankful to find that he hadn't lost it. He took it out and saw that it was somehow glowing, casting the only light available in the dark void. Though he was reluctant to let go of his tiny green lamp, Crius cast it out into the darkness along with a prayer to Erebos. The coin revolved around the water for a few seconds before it disappeared. Then it was replaced by something else entirely. 


	10. A Chat with Erebos II

**Reply to Lord Sanguine: The Olympians have all been influenced by the Fates and think that Crius is going to destroy the world. Poseidon is still loyal to Zeus, if Crius had given him a real reason to let him go, he would have, but otherwise, he just can't ignore what the others say. **

The light from the coin was gone. Crius was in a world of total darkness, a place where the shadows were enveloped by even darker shadows. All light had stopped coming down miles above where they were.

And still, Crius somehow managed to 'see' the thing that was in front of him, but he had a feeling that it was more in his head than with his eyes.

The thing, which Crius supposed was Erebos, looked like a small baby the size of car. Its eyes were closed and it was sucking on the coin that Crius had offered to it. It would have looked cute if it wasn't just so weird.

"Who there?" the thing said. Crius didn't hear it exactly as its mouth never moved, but he was used to expecting weird things at this point.

"My name is Crius," Crius said slowly. "I-I- I come in peace. Who are you?" It had sounded a whole lot cooler in his head.

"Erebos. You coin. What want?" Erebos muttered. Crius was kind of surprised to see that Erebos looked nothing more like a baby. Wasn't he supposed to be at least a billion years old or something? Plus, Crius had always assumed that Erebos was going to look something like Hades.

But now he had a bigger problem. Sure, he had went ahead and said that he wanted to talk to Erebos, but now that he was here, he had no idea what to ask. After all, he wanted to ask about pretty much _everything, _but unless Erebos could read his mind, it wasn't going to be quick.

When Crius was silent for several minutes, Erebos talked again.

"I so sleeepy. I come coin. I accept offering. What want? Power? Weapon? Healing? Ask quickly."

Even though Erebos looked like a baby, Crius still felt afraid of him. He also had a feeling that this wasn't Erebos' true form or whatever.

"I want to know about my sword," Crius said, waving his sword around even though he couldn't see it. As a matter of fact, he couldn't even see his own fingers. The only thing that was visible somehow was Erebos, which strengthened Crius' conviction that he was probably really seeing him in his head.

"I no know," Erebos said. "It older than I."

"You don't know anything about it?" Crius asked.

Erebos paused for a second and continued sucking on the coin. "There is a forest. Trees. It linked to that. I know no more."

"Do you know why the Olympians are after me?" Crius asked.

"Fate," Erebos said. "Destiny. Must happen. You must leave."

"Whoa- wait there," Crius said. "Couldn't we, uh, talk this out? I kind of need some assistance here, and I was told to visit you... and..."

Erebos opened his eyes. There wasn't anything in them, somehow, they were darker than even what surrounded Crius. Crius felt as if he might just find himself sucked into them and lost forever. Kind of like a black hole. Crius tried to look away, but found that he couldn't.

"No," Erebos said more forcefully than before. Evidently, he wasn't used to being told things by twelve-year-old mortals. "I tell you special. But I old. I listen to no one. But you give coin. I will help you. I will help that child Hades better. But goodbye now."

Crius felt something tug at his sleeve, and realized that he had forgotten about his guide for a second there. He wanted to tell someone to stop. He wanted to say how Erebos had told him next to nothing about what he needed to know, and now a shark was taking him somewhere that he guessed he wouldn't like.

But the thing was that Crius was sure that none of that would help in the slightest. The only thing he could think of for the moment was to go somewhere and wait for Hades to turn up, but the moment that the thought had formed in his head, he found himself suddenly standing somewhere where the ground wasn't very hard.

The trip towards Erebos had taken a really long time, but somehow Crius had ended up where he was instantly. Maybe Erebos had made the trip faster. Crius looked up and saw that it was pretty sunny.

But before he could enjoy the scenery any more, someone jumped out at him from behind the trees.

The person was wearing some old-fashioned armor and was pointing a spear at Crius. Only he was pointing the wrong end at him. He noticed that and twisted it awkwardly into the right position.

"Who are you?" the guy asked. He was pretty tall, but something about him made Crius think that someone had handed him the wrong job.

The guy then noticed something. "You're not wet at all. I just saw you come from the Tiber, but you're perfectly dry." The guy touched Crius' shirt to make sure.

Crius turned around to see there was a river behind him. He might have been imagining it, but he thought that he could see a shark fin for a second. But then he remembered that sharks don't swim in rivers, but then again, Crius wasn't dealing with a regular shark.

"I asked who are you," the guy said again. Crius thought about it for a second. This person didn't look very eager to do his job, which probably meant that there were several people nearby who took things seriously.

"I think my name is Crius," Crius said. "I don't remember much else."

"Great," the guy said in a tone that made it perfectly clear that he thought the exact opposite. "Well, I suppose I'm supposed to take you back to Camp and all."

Crius started off, but the guy told him to stop. "Don't you know how heavy this armor is?" he asked.

The armor was heavy, and it was way too big for the skinny guy. Kind of like a turtle who had taken a shell that was far too big for it. Crius was no expert, but even he could see that the guy hadn't exactly fitted his armor properly.

All along the way, the guy kept muttering and swearing at points saying things like "Stupid Greeks," mentioned some names including Reyna, Jackson, and Jason. He kept tripping at points and muttering about how heavy his armor was.

"So why don't you take it off?" Crius asked after the tenth time.

"That's a great idea," the guy said, rolling his eyes. "Why didn't I think of that? Do you think I want to go around wearing this? I was demoted. I was first an Augur, but after that war and my failure at that other camp, I get sent doing minor guard duty while a daughter of Mercury prances around being the Augur. I bet..."

He continued talking for at least five minutes, though Crius really wasn't listening. He was instead wondering where he was supposed to be.

Oddly enough, the guy seemed to have missed on the fact that Crius was carrying a sword. Or maybe he just didn't think it was necessary to bother, as it didn't seem too dangerous. Crius couldn't tell if the guy was just inept or bored with his post or both.

Eventually, the guy stopped. Crius couldn't see why.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" Crius asked.

"You can't see it? Are sure?" the guy asked.

All Crius saw was a lot of forest. But just then his sword began vibrating and Crius felt a tingle crawl up his arm, and then the scene in front of him changed dramatically.

"Welcome to Camp Jupiter. I'm Octavian," the guy said.


	11. The Augur

Crius had never seen so many people before. Sure, the sights around him in Camp Jupiter were amazing in themselves, but it was the people all around him that really caught his attention. Almost all of them were wearing the same kind of armor that Octavian was wearing, except they seemed to know what they were doing and their armor actually fit.

Also, there were a whole lot of people… who weren't people. Crius thought that he recognized somethings that were called fauns and even ghosts, but the other kids just strolled by so he guessed it was pretty normal.

"You'll have to see the Augur first," Octavian said. "Then we'll decide other things around here. Unfortunately that all falls under my responsibility since I'm the one who found you." The town had many buildings but Octavian went straight up ahead to a nearby hill. From whatever Crius could see, it looked like parts of the place were being rebuilt. As they climbed up the hill, Octavian constantly was groaning and stopped at many places. It was clear that he really needed to work out more, Crius thought, but from whatever he could tell, Octavian's armor _was_ pretty heavy.

Crius saw a lot of fauns on his way up, which he recognized from the Narnia movies. They weren't very active though and just laid around on the grass. Crius wanted to ask about them, but wasn't sure that Octavian was the best person to ask.

Finally, they approached what looked like a newly built wooden cottage at the top of the hill. It had several signs in front which said: THE AUGUR'S CHAMBERS ARE A TEDDY BEAR MISUSE FREE ZONE and TEDDIES HAVE RIGHTS TOO.

Crius really wasn't sure what to think when he saw them. Octavian snorted when he saw them though.

"Teddy bear rights? Please. When I was the augur, I did things properly. I saw things in the remains of stuffed animals, but this new child of Mercury goes around protecting them and instead tries to foresee the future through crystal balls and such. I tell you-" Octavian continued on ranting though Crius really wasn't listening.

Though he guessed that he probably should have waited, Crius knocked on the door. Almost instantly, the door was opened though no one was there.

It was after looking around for twenty second fruitlessly that Crius finally looked down. He wouldn't have guessed that the child was supposed to be human. For one, though she was eleven years old, she was really short and probably because she was a demigod, or maybe it was just because she was a child of Mercury, but her face looked kind of elvish.

Crius thought at first that she was a fairy or something until Octavian said,

"So yeah, that's the Augur, and my job here is kind of done." Octavian walked away like he was happy to get rid of Crius.

"Come in," the Augur said. She had an odd accent and did things with surprising… discipline for an eleven-year-old. The inside of the place had teddy bears lined against one wall, on the floor, on the furniture… as Crius looked around he summed it up as 'everywhere'.

But inside, Crius finally began thinking about the things he was seeing. He remembered right then that most of the people in town had looked at Octavian oddly, and some of them seemed to just outright hate him. He remembered what Octavian had said earlier and guessed that he had screwed up badly somewhere and so he was being treated like an outcast.

He also found it odd that a daughter of Mercury was the Augur. Even though Crius didn't know much about Greek mythology, he was sure that Apollo was supposed to be the god of prophecies…

As if she could read her mind (or maybe she could just tell that Crius was about to ask), the Augur said,

"When Mercury was born, he, in a fit of childishness, stole one of Apollo's cattle. Apollo then went to Zeus so he could decide how to punish the baby, but Zeus was more amused than enraged. In the end, Mercury gifted Apollo a lyre, and so Apollo decided to forgive him and taught the child much of what he knew, including the art of Prophecies. So, once, occasionally, a child of Mercury will be born who can divine the future, though rarely." Crius was amazed at how serious and sophisticated her words were even though she looked little more than like a toddler.

"But for now, I need to divine things about you," the Augur said. "You won't believe how many girls and passersby I get up here asking me things like 'Doe so-and-so like me?', 'How will my romantic life be?', 'What are the questions going to be on the next maths test?', really, things like this never happened when Octavian was around, but seeing a little child some of these people are really getting too close."

Crius just nodded even though he had no idea how the conversation had just shifted from him to this girl's problems.

"But anyway," the rather talkative Augur said, "we need to figure out who you are and why you ended up here. I think you've lost your memory? Well, there was one hero like that who came here, but that was before my time. And I, unfortunately, cannot see unto the past, only glimpses of what is yet to come." She then gestured for Crius to sit down at a nearby table which had a teddy bear the size of the Augur on top. But this bear was different and had what looked like a crystal ball hanging off of its neck. The Augur turned the bear around so she was looking into it.

She peered into it as if she could see something inside. Surely this couldn't be it, Crius thought. He was sure that the Augur was supposed to do something different, but he couldn't exactly remember what that was. But it probably wasn't looking into crystal balls.

"It is odd," the Augur said. "I cannot see much about you. I can see some minor flashes here and there, but nothing that seems to tell of any truth."

Just then, Crius decided to try out a little experiment. While the Augur was busy, he touched his sword, which thankfully, he found that he still had.

The moment he did so, the Augur froze. She glared into the crystal ball as if she was trying to levitate it using the Force. "Odd. All signs about you have suddenly vanished. I can see absolutely nothing at all now."

Just then, she suddenly collapsed and started clutching her throat as if she was choking on something. Crius immediately got up and tried to help her, but just as quickly as she had collapsed, she began speaking in a voice that didn't belong to her.

"Crius Sympan. I have found you. You will not escape. The Augurs and Oracles are tools of the Fates, and soon you shall fall."

After that ominous proclamation, the Augur got up quickly and seemed to be perfectly fine. She then quickly said that Crius should wander over down quickly as they were beginning something like a meeting.

Crius ran down, and as he saw the crowd gathered below, he just couldn't help but wonder as to what the Augur had wanted to say.


	12. Discovery

Things were looking up for Crius. For the very first times since his whole crazy adventure had begun, things were normal. At least, things were about as normal as they could have been at Camp Jupiter.

A week had passed by pretty swiftly. Crius was different from everyone else in a number of ways, including that he had never met the wolf Lupa that everyone was talking about. He also was pretty lame at fighting, though no one seemed to be too bothered about that. The Camp didn't seem to be attacked as often as it used to be, or so the other campers said. They were also continuously chatting about a sort of 'merge' they were going to make. As far as Crius could tell, Camp Jupiter was going to be fused with some other camp in the east, and most of the prized Roman warriors had wandered off there to begin things at the moment.

But what was really valuable was information. Crius eagerly pursued any source of intel that he could, after all, he was tired of being attacked by who knows what and not knowing anything about it. One thing that really stuck out to him was the Mist, and though he had had some idea of what it was before, it was only until he heard a detailed explanation that it began to fascinate him. As far as Crius could tell, he couldn't see through the Mist, but each time that he touched his sword, stuff always managed to reveal itself to him.

Latin words would reassemble themselves so they would be in English. He would see creatures for what they were, and he could see the ghosts, or Lares as the others called them more clearly. Though he could tell that everyone probably wondered why he was carrying something like a plastic sword around, Crius ignored them. If anyone asked, he just told them that it was a family heirloom and he had been told to safeguard it. No one seemed to doubt that.

"Don't worry, you'll get claimed soon enough," was something that he had gotten used to being told. The whole thing seemed like a big deal in Camp Jupiter. Every single person just couldn't wait to be claimed by their godly parent, but maybe because he had been living with two parents all his life, Crius really couldn't see the big deal. He could see many of the kids wearing sullen faces and sounding bitter because they hadn't received a single sign. And when they did, their faces would light up as if they'd won the lottery, and all the time he could hear people swapping stories about how they'd been claimed.

But Crius knew that it wasn't going to happen to him. If there was one single thing that Crius was sure of, it was that he was mortal. He was the sun of Arthur and Elizabeth Sympan, and he didn't have a drop of godly blood in him. He made it a sure point not to even touch Ambrosia and Nectar.

However, despite everything that he had learned, he still didn't understand anything as to why he had been attacked or anything else for that matter. So one day he wandered over to the Roman Archives. Few people ever went there, mainly because most people were dyslexic and hated reading anything anyway, and it just wasn't the 'Roman' thing to do with free time.

That didn't bother Crius much, but what did bother him was the fact that he might have to cross some of the temples on his way. Crius didn't like the temples. He still had the feeling that somewhere, the gods were still looking for him and that waling into a temple would be equivalent to shouting out his true identity to the whole world.

So, he kept his sword in his cabin. He didn't want to leave it, not after it had saved him from Demeter once, but he felt as if the gods might ignore him if he didn't carry it.

Even though it felt weird to be without his sword, as if he had left his arm back at the cabin, Crius carried on. He blinked. He didn't know why he was feeling so attached to the blade. Crius considered the fact that the sword could have been malevolent and might be trying to use him some way, though that didn't seem likely, he thought he'd be wary of what it might do from now on.

Crius rushed around the temples. He tried going around the statues of the deities whenever he could, but he still felt as if he was being watched, or that a god might suddenly pop up out of nowhere and take him to be imprisoned on Olympus for all of his life. Or maybe somewhere worse.

The archives were located so that it seemed as if the architect had thought, "Well, I've got to throw this thing somewhere. Maybe here." Unlike the other buildings in the city, it seemed very old and needed a fresh coat of paint. It was partially hidden from the rest of the world by some trees surrounding it, which may have been why no one really noticed it or bothered to change it.

Crius walked in. The inside wasn't much better than the exterior. There was single desk where someone who must have been at least a thousand years old was taking a nap. Crius would have tapped him on the head and asked him to wake up, but he was afraid that the man might crumble at his touch. Crius decided to walk in without disturbing him, but before he could, the man woke up.

"Lord Somnus, I wasn't dozing off, I was just…" the man shouted. His voice was raspy and weak, and by his manner, Crius guessed he was groveling or something like that. He then then turned and saw Crius, and blinked his eyes. Crius guessed that the guy's eyesight was pretty bad because he did a lot of rubbing.

"You're not Somnus, are ya?" the guy asked in the same raspy tone.

"No," Crius said. He was sure that he had heard the name Somnus somewhere, but the thing was that there were so many Greek warriors and they had so many different and weird names that he just couldn't keep track.

"Thank goodness," the guy said. "I thought I was gonna be killed there." In Crius' opinion, he thought that this guy should probably stop worrying about death, because he looked like he could wilt away any minute now.

"I'm Crius," Crius said. He didn't want to offer his hand for a handshake. "I wanted to see the archives. Do you guys have something like the Dewey Decimal system or a catalogue in here?"

The man laughed until his voice was hoarse. "Catalogue? No one in their right minds ever comes in here, unless of course they've been put here as punishment. So no, there's nothing, so you'll just have to go through whatever you want. Don't worry, if you're not back by sunset I'll see if I can arrange a search part for you."

The guy went back to sleep. Crius was hoping that he had been joking about that last part.

The inside of the library was oddly moist and damp. Crius had read somewhere that that was bad for books and caused them to decompose, but at the very least there were no insects over the place. Crius wasn't overly afraid of bugs, but his mind had started spewing things about giant spiders when he thought of going into an abandoned place.

The scrolls were all placed far above his reach on shelves that were arranged in no particular order. There was a huge layer of dust all around the place, and that seriously made Crius wonder as for how many centuries this stuff had been kept there.

Idiot! He suddenly told himself. All of these records would be in Latin or maybe Greek, and he couldn't understand either of them without his sword. He had momentarily forgotten about that. Or maybe he could read a bit…

Crius climbed one shelf and took out a heavy scroll. It was a painting of someone offering a crown of gold to a statue, and beneath it were several characters in what Crius guessed was Latin from the few classes that he had taken, but unfortunately they made no sense.

Frustrated, Crius kept the scroll back and jumped back down. This whole thing was turning out to be a lot lamer than he had thought. But as he was about to leave, one of the scrolls fell down, even though no one had touched it, and it fell into his hands perfectly. It couldn't have just happened by itself.

Crius looked around. Maybe one of the Lares had followed him and was playing some sort of trick on him. He unrolled the scroll to see a few lines of text that were Greek to him. Or maybe Latin, not that he would possibly know the difference.

But then, the letters did shift around when he looked at them. And strangely enough, it happened almost instantly. It would usually take a few seconds for Crius to process just what it was that he was supposed to be reading when he held onto his sword. The lines read:

_'Child, do you mean, by your sole self, to move unconquerable fate? You are allowed to enter the three Sisters' [Fates'] dwelling. There a giant fabric forged of steel and bronze will meet your eyes, the archives of the world, that fear no crush of heaven, no lightning's wrath, nor any cataclysm, standing safe to all eternity. And there you'll find engraved on everlasting adamant the fortunes of your line. I read them there myself and stored them in my memory and I'll declare them that you may not still labor in ignorance of things to come.'_

Beneath this was a drawing of a large collection of various stone tablets stored above a huge cloud. On closer inspection, Crius saw that there were buildings on the clouds… like Olympus. He stuffed the scroll into his pocket and heard the parchment protest. He normally would have been more delicate with an ancient record but he couldn't see how he could have damaged it worse.

Crius snuck out of the place. No more scrolls fell on him and he dashed out without alerting the librarian or whoever it was who was still sleeping on the desk.

Once Crius got back to his bank, he unrolled his prize and took another good luck at it. There was nothing at the back or anything, just those four lines. Crius saw a number at the bottom, and he was pretty sure that it wasn't one. He had probably gotten a page from some sort of book. Or maybe this was a copy from somewhere, because the archives had been way too messy for him to sort anything out.

The lines didn't exactly make much sense, so Crius tried reading them out loud. But the moment that he read the words the Sisters, something weird happened. Crius dropped the scroll and clutched his stomach. He suddenly felt nauseous, and the air around him shifted. He looked outside and saw that storm clouds had just gathered.

Crius realized his mistake. He had been told way too often not to go flouting out names all of the time, because names had power, so he had tried his best not to speak about Zeus or Jupiter or any of the other gods in case that would make them notice. He wasn't really sure who these Sisters were, but he didn't have time to figure out as the door suddenly bust down.

A man walked into the place, and Crius recognized him from all of the paintings that he had seen. One of the most honored gods of Rome, his eyes glowed as if his very eyes were on fire and he carried a huge weapon which even Crius could tell was a gun. He was dressed in the attire of an army officer, but occasionally Crius' vision flickered and he saw the man dressed up in Roman armor instead.

"I finally found you, punk," Mars said.


	13. Knowledge

Crius didn't bother protesting. He didn't try to fight back. That was because he already had a plan. From whatever he had heard about Mars Ultor as the Romans called him, he was pretty stupid and cocky.

Mars seemed disappointed that Crius was giving up so easily; he had clearly been relishing a fight. Crius was almost willing to give it to him, for some reason he found a sudden urge to punch him as he stepped closer, but once he touched his sword, those emotions dissipated like water on a desert road.

Unfortunately his sword didn't seem to be able to do much else. He willed it to do something like what had happened with Demeter, but just like with Poseidon nothing seemed to happen.

But something else occurred to Crius. If Mars just decide to teleport to Mt. Olympus, then his whole plan would go down the drain. As he thought about it, it almost seemed that it was going to be likely. For some reason though, Mars didn't pick this most obvious choice. He was probably too stupid to do so.

"You've got nerve, I'll give you that," Mars said. "For one, ignoring absolutely everything you did to Demeter and Jupiter, of all of the places to hide, you chose Camp Jupiter. The very place of my patronage. For a whole week right under my nose." Crius shuddered. Mars suddenly seemed angry, and suddenly he thought that Mars wasn't going to Olympus directly because he was dumb, but because he wanted to humiliate Crius first. Crius had angered him by and the other gods were probably making fun of him for having ignored him when he was right by his doorstep, and Mars was going to exact his revenge before taking Crius anywhere. Mars Ultor. Mars the Avenger, Crius thought.

This was strengthened as once Mars was out, he didn't head towards his bike (one look at it told Crius that it had to have been his) but instead dragged him in the opposite direction.

And that's when all chaos wreaked loose. The ground opened up and out of the fissures Crius saw ghosts crawl out. And these weren't your friendly house gods as the Romans would call them, they somehow seemed to be more… real than normal ghosts. They were all carrying weapons ranging from swords to machine guns. Behind them, some more solid-looking skeletons crawled out.

"Stop!" Mars screamed. The skeletons looked at Mars and hesitated, as if they owed him something or were afraid of him even after they were dead. But despite that, they continued on, though Crius noticed none of them came close to Mars.

The light around Mars' sunglasses got brighter, as if someone had stoked some sort of fire burning in his eyes. Crius wondered just what he would see if he removed those dark sunglasses, but he had bigger worries.

Though he had no idea about what was going on, Crius took this time to escape. He dashed out, and though Mars tried to grab him at the last minute and probably got ahold of a few strands of hair, Crius sprinted as fast as he could. He threw away all of his heavy equipment and made a beeline for the gates.

Crius thought hard about what he was going to say in order to get out. After all, fleeing from battle just wasn't the Roman way.

"Lord Mars told me to go on a quest outside," he blurted out to the sentries. The sentries were watching the scene unfold, and they were clearly itching to join in but had been told to hold the perimeter for now.

Both of them looked suspiciously at Crius, but there was a call from a few feet away that said, "I saw Mars Ultor heading for his cabin."

That seemed to be enough to let Crius escape. He had learned from other people that the camp had an entrance to the outside world across the River Tiber. Crius ran towards it and plunged himself into the water without hesitating. Sure, cold water was bad, but it was certainly better than whatever was going on behind him. Crius could now hear some sort of howling along with the screeching of souls, like there were some huge dogs screaming in pain at camp.

As he got out of the Tiber, just as he was sure that he was going to get somewhere safe, something grabbed him from behind and lifted him up twenty feet in a few seconds. Crius looked up to see something he recognized from the drawings- a Fury.

Crius had heard the story about Theseus and Pirithous and how they had travelled to the Underworld in order to abduct Persephone. But the moment they sat down on a few rocks, the Furies surrounded them. Even though they were one of the greatest heroes ever, the moment they saw them their courage deserted them and all they just remained their petrified.

Crius could see why. Luckily, this Fury didn't seem to be glaring at him, and her whip hung in a non-threatening way at her side. Crius saw the landscape below turn into a blur, far faster than it should have. Suddenly, the Fury descended and dropped what Crius guessed was supposed to be a safe landing for him since he landed on a pile of grass, but still hurt.

Once Crius stood up, he saw that they were somewhere in the middle of the desert, and that patch of grass had been thrown there as if it had been specially made for him to be thrown on it.

The Fury was standing next to an oddly shaped mirror. Crius could see scenes of farmers starving from famine, people running away from a volcanic explosion, a cloud of gas settling over a group of soldiers.

Crius guessed that it wasn't laughing gas.

The surface of the mirror shimmered and began showing scenes of torture, horror, you know, the kind of ordinary stuff you expect to see in a Fury's mirror. Crius guessed it was kind of like a magical dinner plate that he had heard about, but he guessed that it would have been a bit nicer than this.

When Hades' image finally formed, the first thing that Crius said was, "You've gotten fatter."

The Fury looked at him as if she wanted to whip him, but Hades waved her aside. She glared at Crius and then took ten paces back.

"Yes, I've been eating to recover. Demeter and Persephone have each told me around ten times that I've gotten chubbier," Hades said, clearly not liking the topic at hand.

"Um, so how are things?" Crius asked. He had no idea whatsoever as to how he was going to start a conversation with the God of Death.

"Oh, the usual," Hades waved his hand dismissively. "The gods are fighting amongst themselves, the world is about to tear itself, nothing much out of the ordinary."

Crius thought differently but he just nodded.

"So," Crius began. "You sent those spirits and stuff back there?"

"Yes," Hades said. "You're rather slow, aren't you? I assumed that the spirits of the dead waking was slightly self-evident. But now we have a problem that your safe retreat at Camp Jupiter has been ruined."

"You knew I was there?" Crius asked.

"Of course," Hades said with a tone that indicated that he didn't think that Crius could get much stupider. "I was always watching you. I wanted an underground place, much safer, you know, but everyone would have been expecting that. Camp Jupiter on the other hand, it's so in plain view that no one would have bothered to notice you."

"Until I messed up," Crius said.

"Yes, but that's slightly my fault," Hades said. "I was the one who knocked that scroll into your hands- don't look so surprised, I have this helm. Anyway, it's time that you finally get to know what it is that's happening."

"I think I do kn-" Crius cut himself off. For all that he had read at Camp Jupiter, he hadn't really gotten any closer to figuring out anything for real.

Hades seemed to guess what Crius was thinking. "So anyway, let's begin with this before someone else comes along and interrupts us. I'll try to make a story of several millennia short. You see, shortly after my brothers and I had divided the world up into three pieces, and I was tricked into taking my current morbid place, I steamed over it for a long time. I saw the other gods milling about with the mortals above and their heroes. For a long time, my children weren't part of them. I merely took to hiding in the shadows and watching events above ground for a long time.

"The thing is, I started noticing… patterns. I don't think the gods ever did, perhaps because as they were directly involved with things, they couldn't. After surveying things in my domain over and over again, I reached this conclusion: life isn't fair, and neither is death."

Crius wondered if he should have said "So what?" at this point but he knew that it wouldn't do any good and would probably just end up bad. Hades had been pretty patient with him from what he knew the god was usually supposed to behave like, and he didn't want to ruin that.

"Now, many will agree with me, but I thought to myself, 'Here I see heroes and gods running around everywhere and getting into trouble, and just ending up tragically.' Let's look at things for a moment. The humans are certainly not happy; I wouldn't be in their position. The demigods especially so. But even the gods don't seem to benefit from all of this ruckus. So my question is, how is it possible that everybody is being treated unfairly? Surely all of these problems have to start somewhere? And if so, there should be someone who's benefitting from all of it.

"Perhaps you can't imagine the sheer size of it. Heroes dying left and right. Absolute horror everywhere. Who is gaining something? We gods quarrel amongst each other, but the truth is that all of us hate our positions. So there must be someone using us who has something to get by forcing all of us to attack each other. The other gods seemed to mainly just shrug all of this off, as if they didn't care or thought that it couldn't be helped. But we're gods. Things aren't to be like this. One day, I decided that I would investigate myself. I placed on my helm and was so invisible to all eyes, mortal and immortal. For a great number of years I wandered around place to place.

"And it was by chance that the idea finally hit me. There was only one group of people who were unfazed by all of the calamities around us: the Fates." Crius remembered that piece of scripture and saw that he still had it.

"I hid in their lair for a very long time," Hades said. "I would do it whenever I got free time, Persephone was sure that I was seeing someone else, but that's besides the point. From whatever snatches of conversation I heard, I finally began learning something. The Fates, the ones who feared no one, always talked about a prophecy that they were themselves afraid of. And they just went on and on about a sword. I was intrigued, and one day when Clothos went outside their lair alone, I followed as she made her way to the depths of Tartarus to check up on that very sword that you have in your hands. I stole it the second time."

"But what does this all have to do with me?" Crius asked.

"Think boy," Hades said. He was getting impatient. "Don't you get it? I'm tired of wheeling around at the whims of those old grannies. They took away one of the finest women I know, and cast the lives of several of my children in darkness. They tore away Luke Castellan's happiness and peace of mind, and they were the ones who cause my father Kronos to become as he had become in the first place. Imagine, the entire world could have been different. A happier place, one in which one can hope for genuine peace and decisions of the gods would matter. Imagine all of the ideal stories of the gods you've ever heard about, the ones in which everyone gets a happy ending. That could be more than a fairy tale if we succeed.

"Now, the part where we come into the present. I can't normally save people from dying, no matter what you hear about the gods in other religions. But, I managed to save you, because you're the 'Chose One' or something that the Fates kept harping about. Don't ask me what it's supposed to mean, all I know is that that sword is supposed to help you do heroic things with it. I'm guessing the Fates have spread some rumors about you to Zeus, and that's why every single divine entity is after you. I'm pretty much as clueless as you from now on. You're going to have to go to someone else for help now."

"Who?" Crius asked. He noticed that the Fury was fiddling with something in her purse, an ugly bag that seemed to be made out of human skin. Crius had no idea as to how he knew it was human skin, he just knew.

"I kept trying to figure out who should know more about these things," Hades said, "I was wondering about my father, or perhaps Prometheus, but that I think we should reserve for later. I have the entire dead to extract intel from, but apparently that's short. Go to Hercules."

"Hercules?" Crius asked. From whatever he knew, he didn't think that the guy was going to be too helpful to their cause. "Why?"

"Call it a gut feeling," Hades said. "If everything is left out, at least he might not be too eager to hurt you if you say that you're being pursued by Hera. He might not be too up with his father either. At the very least he should listen to what you're saying."

The Fury had taken out a toy motorcycle from her purse which she let go. By the time it touched the ground, it was fully grown and about as mean as Ares'. The image of Hades vanished in the mirror and the Fury took it.

"Oh, this bike isn't for you. You get to take the express route," she said with a nasty grin. Before Crius could protest, the shadows had leapt onto him.

Crius could constantly hear everything that dwelled in the darkness and the screaming of a thousand souls, but he sort of used to that stuff by that point. He suddenly found himself deposited on a beach, with the water all around him and a single person with a huge club in front of him.

**A/N: Thanks for reading. And as for your question, I considered it slightly obvious that Crius was going to become the God of Fate eventually one way or another. And, I probably should have mentioned this in the earlier chapter, but the lines about the Fates that were on the scroll were taken from a translation of a Roman epic _Ovid _and was a line said by Zeus to Aphrodite.**


	14. Diplomacy I

Hercules... was a sort of disappointment for Crius. He was way different from what he had expected.

Admittedly, Crius had watched the Disney movie about Hercules. Though he knew movies weren't supposed to be 100% accurate (he had seen _Eragon_) but it seemed like the whole thing had been a lie. He wasn't wearing his lion's skin, which was probably practical since it was at least a million degrees outside. He didn't seem to be overly muscular, but the biggest thing was that he didn't seem happy. The Hercules that Crius had imagined should have been radiant and glowing with health, after all, even though his life was tragic he was a god now.

But Hercules stood there looking out into the sea, looking like some of those men Crius saw who had that look in their eyes- like they were hugely disappointed with everything that they had done in life and had given up all hope.

"What's your name?" he asked. Hercules said it as if it was normal for people to drop out of nowhere.

"Crius Sympan," Crius answered. That got his attention.

"An interesting name. I never liked mine, Herakles, especially what it meant," there was a prolonged twinkle in his eyes that made Crius wonder exactly what he was talking about. Crius had learnt that his name had been styled after Krios, a Titan. For some reason though, he didn't find it strange. His parents didn't know why they had named him that, just that it sounded right. Crius repeated it in his head, Crius Sympan. It sounded right, but he had an uneasy feeling that it was supposed to mean something more than what he was getting on. Maybe that was what Hercules seemed to be thinking about.

"Ignore it. It's cool if you don't get it," Hercules said as he read Crius' expression. Crius then proceeded to tell Hercules everything...

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Crius was running away and ignoring the sting of branches and mosquitos in his face and arms. Before Crius had even finished, Zeus had spoken up from somewhere and told him that if he killed Crius, then Hercules could get whatever he want. Hercules muttered 'Sorry' as if that made everything okay and proceeded to attack Crius.

In other words, things were not going quite like he had expected.

Suddenly, he felt something leave his left pocket and take the form of an old guy with a beard besides him. He seemed less solid than the Lares but maybe that was because Crius wasn't holding his sword.

"I see. It's that guy," the guy said. "I remember him. He sailed with that Athenian and ruined my life. Why don't you turn around and strike him?"

Crius didn't even bother replying. He guessed Hades had gotten this guy to follow him, but he wasn't about to turn around and fight. For one, though the movies might have exaggerated a bit about Hercules' feats, he sure wasn't a slowpoke. Lack of muscles didn't discourage him from carrying around that club like it was no heavier than a tennis racket. Crius thought that maybe Hercules was out of practice after so many years, but he sure didn't want to test his luck.

He didn't know how, but he was sure that if he fought Hercules he would lose.

"Don't worry boy, everything's going according to plan," the ghost said.

"What plan?" Crius gasped as he ducked. Hercules had thrown his club with surprising speed and accuracy and missed Crius by a millimeter. That would give Crius some time to get ahead while he stopped to get a club.

"You are dense aren't you?" the ghost said, shaking his head as if he was used to handling idiots. Crius didn't like the tone of his voice, there was just something wrong with it, but he had bigger problems. "Surely you didn't expect to actually walk up to a child of Zeus and go unscathed? Lord Hades had been expecting this. Don't worry, I'm sure a few more paces and you'll be safe."

Hades put me through this on purpose? Crius thought. The more Crius thought about it, you know, went through all the stuff that Hades had put him through without even really telling him what it was that he was fighting against, he was beginning to wonder if Hades was really on his side.

Just then, Crius noticed that Hercules had stopped chasing after him. Was this Hades' plan?

Crius then looked around and saw that someone was standing ten feet away from him in a clearing. That knocked the breath out of him.

The woman looked neither old nor young. A halo of light encircled her, head and she held something that looked like a ruler in her right hand and a yarn in her left. She was more powerful and imposing than beautiful, and towered at least ten feet tall. There was absolutely no way that she was human.

But at the same time, she didn't seem to be a goddess either. Crius immediately thought of Hera, but why would she come here to personally see him? And there was just something about her that seemed ancient. Old. Older than his feeble mortal intellect could possibly imagine.

The moment she looked at him, Crius' sword began vibrating. Kind of like a cell phone, and Crius felt the same thing as he had when he had faced Demeter and the sword had caused the vines to tie her up.

"Um, yeah," the ghost said. "This is kind of the point where I leave. Hades said that you're on your own, and that if you survive this, he'll be waiting to give you some more help."

The ghost whizzed away. The lady looked at it as if she was considering chasing after it, but quickly disregarded it completely. She instead focused her eyes on Crius.

"Crius Sympan," she said. Her words seemed to contain so much power that the air seemed to shift as she spoke. "You've given us enough trouble. Will you consider peaceful surrender?"

For some reason, Crius was getting the feeling that the offer of peaceful surrender was one that she didn't expect him to take up. Kind of like with Ares.

"Who are you?" Crius asked. As he looked closer, he noticed faint bags under the woman's eyes, as if she had been sleeping.

"Lachesis of the Sisters, Partitioner of Roles, The Measurer," she said. Though her words carried power, she seemed to stumble while speaking him. Crius wondered if she thought that she was dreaming. "You are a danger to Us. Due to that, We have decided that you cannot continue to exist." She opened up her palm, and on top of it something dark began to form. Then it became larger, and it began swirling. Even though it was no larger than a pebble, Crius could still feel it's influence. It was sucking in everything, the air, and it seemed that light was curling around it.

"A black hole," Crius said.

"It is a rip into the Void itself," Lachesis said. "It will consume your soul as well. No afterlife for you. Only complete ruin. It is far less painful than what will happen should you attempt to resist."

Crius had to think fast. He noticed that for some strange reason, Lachesis was looking at him as if she wasn't sure he was there or something. As her eyes crept to his sword, however, they lit up and she looked wide awake.

"Die," Lachesis said. Apparently there wasn't any choice regarding the matter now. But before the hole came close enough to consume Crius, she paused. She seemed to be listening to something, though no one was there that Crius could see.

"It appears that it is too early for your demise," Lachesis said. As she paused, Crius swung his sword at her. He had a feeling that it was going actually going to do something to her, but she dodged aside and then twisted Crius' wrist. Before the sword hit the ground, she caught it in a large pouch that seemed to be made up of silver, though it shone brighter, like it had been weaved from moonlight itself.

A yarn crept itself around Crius, and before he knew it he was completely wrapped in it. The yarn formed a dark red cocoon around him. He could breath somehow, but he could do little as he felt himself being hoisted and then being thrown away like a sack.

Crius guessed that he had been in there for around five minutes when he heard something outside. It sounded like a bird chirping. Crius suddenly felt a sort of jab near his left leg, and then saw that there was a hole there. The hole got bigger and bigger, and soon he was able to crawl out of it.

Crius was sure that only ten minutes had passed since he had been captured, but he he suddenly got the feeling that it had been much longer. He had heard about that at Camp Jupiter, some people would enter a monster's place for a few days and months would pass outside. Maybe the reverse had happened.

He seemed to be in some sort of old storage shed. There was a lot of old wool and what looked like a loom in the corner. Crius looked around for who had helped free him when he felt something touch his shoulder. He looked and saw a small bird, he couldn't tell what breed, made entirely out of something that looked like gold except that it seemed to melt and shimmer like it was liquid. Its wings, as they beat the air they let out a sound like the notes of a piano.

It was overall, the most beautiful thing that Crius had ever seen.

"Good morning," it said suddenly. Crius was used to crazy stuff like metal birds talking by that point, so he said good morning too.

"We have to go quickly," the bird said hopping around. "The Sisters could be here any minute now, once they've decided how to deal with you."

"Who are you?" Crius asked. The bird jumped up, clearly agitated.

"No time! We'll talk on the way," it said and then flew to the door. It crept through a small corner which had been eaten away, and Crius found that it wasn't as heavy as he had expected.

The door led to a hallway that looked worn out. In one way it looked like a house's normal hallway, except ancient. As if no one had been there for the last thousand years.

"The Sisters could be here any minute," the bird call. "This way!"

"What are you?" Crius asked as they made their way.

"I am a gift," the bird answered. "I was a gift that Lord Kronos made for the Fates long ago."

"The Kronos?" Crius asked. "You mean the one who's Saturn? He ate his own children."

There was a look of sorrow in the bird's eye. "Do not judge the Titan Lord too harshly, child. He became who he became because of Fate. If not for the prophecy that foretold that he would be overthrown, he would have remained as kind and generous as was long ago. If you had seen what he was then, you would think differently of him. I am a present that Kronos forged when he had heard that the Sisters were interested in my kind of bird, and he sought to win their favor and have the prophecy annulled. Alas, he was unsuccessful and I have rotted here since. Think of it: When Zeus was told a child born by Metis would overthrow him, did he not swallow her in fear?"

Crius nodded. The place where they were was huge, but at the same time was surprisingly empty. Their footsteps echoed all around the place as they went to a door. Crius opened it and saw that he was standing at the edge of some sort of cliff. There were clouds floating by lazily beneath them.

"It's just an illusion!" the bird chimed. "Do not let your heart waver. I cannot go outside the Sister's realm. But I wish you luck, so that my Lord Kronos may someday have peace."

Crius closed his eyes. It felt easier that way and stepped off. Doing that felt a whole lot less dangerous than whatever he had been doing for the past few days. Instead of falling, his feet touched ground immediately.

He looked around him. There were people bustling all around him and the sun was about to set. Crius didn't see anything that gave away that he had just been in the Fates' hideout. He began walking along some random direction until he saw that same ghost. The ghost beckoned for Crius to follow and flew into a small building.

Crius went towards him, hoping that Hades was going to answer as to why he had just let Crius walk into danger like that. The words 'Law Offices' were legible on the sign outside the building, but the names had faded away.

Inside, Hades was sitting at a wooden desk. The place looked new somehow and the ghosts that were gathered there almost looked natural.

Hades looked up from the magazine he had been reading. "Oh good. You lived."

"You sound disappointed," Crius said bitterly.

"Oh no, I certainly hoped that you would survive," Hades said. "It's just that I never thought it was very likely."

"Then why send me there?" Crius asked. A bit of rage entered his voice and out of the corner of his eye he could see some of the ghosts shivering, as if they were warning him to keep his voice down.

"Simple. I knew nothing of what was going on, and so I decided to deliver you straight into enemy hands so that I could find out a bit more. And I did give you help, you know, sending Minos along. And luckily for you I was there too, otherwise Lachesis would have simply destroyed you," Hades said.

"You know about that?" Crius asked.

"Helm," Hades said as if it answered everything. "I whispered into her ear that the black hole might not have destroyed you completely and that she should make sure that you were annihilated completely. I believe she took it as a message from one of her sisters. She took you prisoner instead. But how did you escape? And did you get any information worth noting?"

Crius told Hades about the bird. He seemed to frown at the mention of his father but seemed to repress it. "Anyway, the only thing that I really got to know was that it seemed like Lachesis really didn't know about me. She was looking at me like I was a stranger."

"Odd indeed. The Fates have already begun their game, so perhaps, one of her sisters began it first? Atropos, no, not likely, Clothos would be more likely. But why did they separate now?"

"I don't know!" Crius shouted. "I lost my sword by the way, and I have no idea how to do anything now."

"I know we have to leave. I can feel Zeus readying a lightning bolt. But as I find myself at a dead end, perhaps we should try negotiating."

"With the Fates?" Crius asked.

"No, with my brother. It's rather hard when all he wants to do is fire lightning bolts, but I think we've gotten over larger misunderstandings," Hades said. He formed a barrier around Crius as the first lightning bolt struck instantly decimating the entire building.


	15. Diplomacy II

The fight was mainly explosions. The sort of mind-retching hydrogen-bombs-have-nothing-on-them-kind.

In the brief flashes when Crius wasn't just trying to block everything out, he could see somethings that made sense to him. He saw two gladiators fighting, one had horses which glowed and sprouted wings; Pegasi, while the other drove skeletal and shadowy monsters that spewed flames. He saw a golden eagle and a raven clawing at each other while a huge storm raged amongst them.

But for the most part, it was just huge explosions.

"The negotiations aren't going too well," a voice said in Crius' head. This was slightly unnecessary as he could already tell that things were not going well. "Let's drop you somewhere, you're enough of a liability as it is. There was this other hero who I was thinking of..."

Suddenly, the world around Crius blurred out and he was standing somewhere where there was no hint of the fighting. At first he thought he had ended up back on that island of Hercules, or near Camp Jupiter, because his feet started sinking into the sand. As he looked around though, he saw the sea, so it couldn't be Camp. And there were several houses behind him, so that meant that he was somewhere new.

Crius gazed off into the sea. It sparkled, and it seemed oddly peaceful. Crius couldn't see any storm clouds in the horizon, which made him wonder just how Poseidon was taking this whole thing. Crius expected some monsters to suddenly climb out of the seawater and ambush him, but none of that happened, so he guessed that at the very least, the Sea God was going to be turning a blind eye to him.

Crius decided to wander off towards the shops. He searched his pockets and saw that he didn't have any normal money with him. It was just then that he saw it.

The reason that it was so obvious was that it was so big. He could see it even though it took it him half an hour to reach it. The other reason that it looked completely out of place.

It was a gigantic ship, one that had shipwrecked or something. Oddly enough, there was no driftwood around it or anything to show that something else had been hit by a storm. Even freakier was the fact that no one seemed to notice it, all of the other people passed by without giving it a glance. Or, if they saw it, they didn't show any sign of recognition.

The Mist, Crius realized. That was the explanation, at least, the only thing that made sense. There was no way that anyone could see something like that and ignore it.

Crius remembered that Hades had said something about a hero. He was probably talking about some other hero who was made a god and lived in that ship. Then again, it really didn't make sense. Half of the ship had rotted away, the sails were unrecognizable, and mold covered most of it. A god would probably have found a better place to stay.

Not to mention that the last time that Hades had sent Crius to a hero, it had ended up with him being attacked just so he could gain some new intel. Crius looked at the other houses. He probably had some of his things from Camp Jupiter on him, if he could just find someone who was also from the Legion, he could get some help. That whole deal with Ares probably hadn't been solved yet, and if it had, it wasn't like they knew he was involved. Though they probably thought he had something to do with it, the chances were low that it had spread all across the country.

That sounded a whole lot better of a plan than going into the ship. Until Crius saw something glowing from one of the windows.

Crius double backed. No, he hadn't been imagining it, there was something inside the ship. Though he knew it was a stupid idea, he went towards it anyway.

The light vanished suddenly. And after that, a small shape of a boy burst out of the wood.

The light had been coming from the glow, Crius realized as he saw that the boy was a ghost. He was dressed up in one of those really old sailor uniforms, and the moment the boy realized that Crius could see him, he started talking.

"M'names Jones, sir. Cabin Boy of the _Orgul_."

"Um, what are you doing here?"

"Well, see, I was always rarin' to go seafarin', and so I got onto my first ship, 'cept it capsized and everyone died on the maiden voyage. Including me." The boy said it happily, as if getting assigned to a ship and then dying was everything that a boy could possible hope for.

"What is this?" Crius asked.

"Ghost ship," the boy said. "Y'know, some ships that manage to form after crew wrecks and start moving on on their own. 'Cept there's nobody here, and the ship is on land for some reason, and the only one on it is some old, old..."

The boy frowned. "I don't really remember what they're called, 'cept that the old granny at the orphanage would wash my mouth if I ever said it."

"Um, okay," Crius said. He had sort of understood what the boy was talking about.

Crius took a peek inside the ship. An idiot could tell that it wasn't very safe to go inside, and there were a lot of floorboards that stuck out. Something told Crius that just because it was a ghost ship didn't mean that it couldn't give him a blister.

"If it's a ghost ship," Crius asked. "How can I touch it?"

Jones scratched his head. "Y'know, I a'int too sure of that myself. I think they call it a... misnomer! Yeah, that's right. They're not real ghost ships like ghost, just wanderin' ones."

That also didn't make too much sense, but Crius decided to accept it.

"You said you were an orphan?" Crius asked Jones. Hades had mentioned something about a hero... had he meant Jones? It would have made sense if you considered the fact that the boy was a ghost and he didn't know his parentage. Crius sometimes wondered about it at Camp, how it would be like to die without ever knowing your godly parent.

Most of the other campers had told him that it rarely happened. Something about the Fates meddling made it so that half-bloods always lived long enough to meet monsters and the like. At least, they'd never heard of it happening.

"Yup," Jones said. "The old granny told me they both died in a fire."

Crius considered that. It was possible the mortals had got it wrong and not both of them had perished, but the thing was that he wasn't sure what he was supposed to get out of Jones.

"Do you know anything about the Fates?" Crius decided asking directly. He also kept a wary eye out to see if there was lightning anywhere or if one of them was about to appear.

"Nope," the boy said after a pause. Just then, something-no, someone walked out from a desolate corner inside the ship.

The man looked sort of like the ship itself. There was actual mold growing on his clothes, and he would've made some of those homeless people look rich. Crius couldn't even tell what his face looked like.

"What are you doing on my ship?" the man asked. He said it very slowly and oddly, as if he wasn't used to speaking. Jones decided to crouch behind Crius, which was even weirder since he was a ghost and should have been safe.

The man walked two steps and then fell over. It was then that Crius could smell him, the kind of smell that you'd get if you hadn't showered in a thousand years.

Crius was about to walk away and not look back when the man mumbled something. Crius didn't catch all of it, but the words 'Fates' was definitely there.

Crius then knew that he had to hang around.

"Poke him with a stick!" Jones said. Crius had to admit that that sounded like a good idea, just not a very nice one.

Crius turned the man over and helped him get up. His hands would have to be disinfected. And his shirt. And he'd probably have to soak for several hours.

The man looked like he had just woken up.

"Help me drag him towards the sea," Crius told Jones before he remembered that Jones was a ghost.

Crius took it upon himself to drag the half-conscious guy towards the ocean and slap water in his face. The guy spluttered and after the third wave, he finally got up. He dropped again and dragged himself towards the boat, and then stood up.

Jones watched the whole thing from afar. After five minutes the man finally got his bearings.

"Now, who are you?" the guy asked Crius. He seemed to have finally gotten out of his daydream. His voice had a whole lot more authority than Crius would have expected, and from how he stood Crius could tell that he had probably had great posture once. As a matter of fact, he had a gleam in his eyes that said that he had seen better times than... well, this.

"Crius Sympan," Crius said. The guy seemed to react to the name, kind of like Hercules but he didn't add in anything.

"Jason," the man replied.

Suddenly stuff started making sense. "Jason- you mean _the _Jason? Of the Argonauts?"

Crius remembered another story he had heard about at camp. About Jason and the Golden Fleece and their travels on their ship. But the thing that had really stuck out of him was the ending.

At the end, Jason had broken his oath to Medea and lost Hera's favor. He had spent all of the rest of his time lying around the wreck of the _Argo _dreaming of his past glory. Then, he got old and a piece of the rotten ship fell on him.

He died instantly. Not the best of endings.

But that had to be thousands of years ago. That Jason was supposed to be dead.

Or was he really? Maybe this Jason was sort of like Hercules, a remnant from the past who moved from place to place just like the rest of Western civilization.

The awkward silence was finally broken when something started glowing over Jones' head. Crius turned around to see a sort of hologram on top of him. He had never seen anyone being claimed before, but he guessed that this was how it was done.

Not that he could figure out what the picture was supposed to be.

"A horn of plenty," Jason said. "You're a child of Fortuna, boy."

Crius had heard a lot about Fortuna at Camp Jupiter. But it was weird when he thought about it. Jones was an orphan and had died on his first voyage. Not exactly the benefits you expect to get if your mother's Lady Luck herself.

"Fortuna controls luck," Jason said, as if he understood what Crius was saying. "Not Fate."

"You mean they're different?" Crius asked.

"Yup," Jones chimed in.

"Fate is big things. The choices you make. Not that you really get a choice in the end," Jason said vehemently. "The Fates always mark out your entire life for you, pretty much all of it, and leave some things for you two decide, not that there's really any decision. Fortune is different, with small things, and generally with people without important destinies like the most important heroes. The Fates might have decided to get rid of your friend over there. They generally don't like Fortuna and what she symbolizes too much."

"So, you're the real Jason?" Crius asked again. He was still having trouble wrapping his mind around it. This guy looked like he had never seen five dollars in his life.

"Yes boy!" Jason shouted. "Now why are you here? What do you want? If you want the Fleece, I have no idea where it is."

"No, I wanted to ask you more about the Fates!" Crius said.

"What about them?" Jason asked. "They're crazy old sadistic people and the root of all misery. Anything else?"

"Yes," Crius said. "I've still had absolutely zero info on, on-" Crius realized that he was going to have to explain everything to this guy.

Just then, a limo pulled up near the street out of nowhere. Now, really, it seemed to come out of nowhere.

For one, it looked out of place because this was a pretty small town from the looks of it, and the person who came out looked even more out of place.

Crius guessed she must have been kind of beautiful, but it was hard to get a good luck at here with all that she was wearing. She was wearing a fur coat (several of the fauns back at Camp would have had a heart attack) and huge emerald earrings. She had more expensive rings on then she had fingers and she didn't seem to mind that here cape was dragging against the sand.

She walked up to Crius. "Hello there. Crius Sympan, I believe?"

"Lady Fortuna," Jason said and sort of bowed. Crius guessed it was either because he didn't like her, or just couldn't in his condition. Maybe both.

Fortuna nodded but didn't put his eyes away from Crius, except to glance at Jones once.

"I need to have a little talk."

"Okay." Crius should have been feeling slightly scared, but something about her made him feel bold. He felt his usual fears and indecision evaporate, and was feeling way too sure of himself. Like the next lottery was just going to be his.

"This is rather long, but to get to the point, I require your help. The point is simply that for my own reasons, I want to help you. I will return the original _Argos _back to its glory, and along with Jason and my son you will go and seek help. There is a hermit who lives in the Rockies, the ship is set to sail. Any questions?"

Crius felt like saying 'No ma'am' almost immediately before he realized that Fortuna was mixing up his emotions, kind of like with Mars. Crius pinched himself and found that that seemed to clear his thoughts. Which was a good thing, because Fortuna's deal wasn't something he just wanted to walk into.

"We'll take it," Jason said behind him. Fortuna nodded like that was all she needed and went back to her limousine. With a flick of her fingers the ship jumped up, and landed new just like it had been built.

Whether Crius like it or not, he had a quest to take.


End file.
